The spread of medical fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic: Quantitative study and lessons learned (Preprint)

Abstract

The phenomenon of the rapid generation and spread of misinformation about the novel coronavirus COVID-19 during the pandemic was evident and attracted many researchers. However, there are more health-related topics polluting the Internet with misinformation that are not as widely studied.

The aim of our experiment was to assess the reach of the most popular medical content, not limited to the subject of the pandemic, in the World Wide Web (WWW). We evaluated the content for subject matter and credibility in 2021 and 2022. The content was evaluated according to the principles of Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) by experienced clinicians.

We used 274 keywords to perform web page searches using the BuzzSumo Enterprise Application. The keywords were selected according to medical topics which were obtained via questionnaires given to the medical practitioners. The search was limited to two specific date ranges: (1) Jan. 1, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2021; (2) Jan. 1, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2022. We limited searches to web pages in Polish language and filtered them by the selected dates. The analysis included 161 web pages retrieved from 2021 and 105 retrieved from 2022. Each web page was reviewed by an experienced doctor in terms of credibility. The evaluation was performed in accordance with EBM standards. Additionally, we collected data about social media engagements related to the web pages.

The proportion of non-credible contents about COVID-19 significantly decreased in 2022 as compared to 2021. The percentage of non-credible web pages with the topics COVID-19 and general vaccinations changed from 57% to 24% and 42% to 30%, respectively. However, simultaneously there was a significant rise in non-credible contents and their spread in social media regarding other medical topics. The percentage of non-credible web pages with the topic cholesterol and statins and cardiology increased from 17% to 26% and from 18% to 26%, respectively.

Actions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic to prevent the spread of fake news appear to have been effective. However, our analysis indicates that such interventions should be applied continuously to existing and emergent medical topics. It seems that topics other than the virus were “filling up the vacuum” created by the decreasing interest in the pandemic.