Shouting Into the Wind: Medical Science versus “B.S.” in the Twitter Maelstrom of Politics and Misinformation About Hydroxychloroquine

Abstract

In the social media marketplace of ideas during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, epidemiologists and other scientific and medical experts competed for attention with news media, government agencies, politicians, celebrities, and rank conspiracy theorists. However, everyone with a Twitter account was not equally qualified to speak knowledgeably about critical issues related to the outbreak, such as prevention and treatment. And, accurate information from informed sources can mean the difference between life and death. Our exploratory study addresses a simple, but important question: whose messages about the efficacy of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for coronavirus were getting the most attention on Twitter? We provide a data visualization of Twitter activity for the period of 21 January through 21 May 2020 that shows users who tweeted about hydroxychloroquine, as well as who interacted with each of them (through likes, comments, retweets, etc.) to determine who were the most prominent voices on the network during a critical juncture of the outbreak. From our analysis, it appears that President Donald Trump’s handle ( @realDonaldTrump ) and other pro-Trump related accounts were the most influential voices on Twitter during this time of the crisis, rather than those from relevant experts, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( @CDCgov ) or the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases ( @NIAIDnews ).