Fake or True? How People Spread and Verify Rumors Online

НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН,РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ АРХИПОВОЙ АЛЕКСАНДРОЙ СЕРГЕЕВНОЙ ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА АРХИПОВОЙ АЛЕКСАНДРЫ СЕРГЕЕВНЫ

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2023.4.2387

Keywords:

COVID-19, infodemic, coronavirus, rumors, conspirology, social networks, socail media, natural language processing techniques

Abstract

The article continues the study of the Russian infodemic launched by the authors in January 2020. Its goal is to identify the principles by which Internet users interact with coronavirus rumors on social networks and in search queries. For this, the authors collected a database of infodemic narratives in social networks (6.2 million reposts) and studied the behavioral strategies of users in queries to search engines. The study showed, that although conspiracy narratives remain the most popular among Russian users, they are worried about completely different texts considering everyday risks related to the right to control the body: possible routes of infection, restrictive measures by the authorities, traditional medicines for coronavirus, etc. It was these messages that search engine users sought to check by adding operators of doubt and clarification (“true or false”) to the query. At the same time, users were ready to implement some infodemic narratives in practice, which is confirmed by adding an action operator to them — “how to cook” and “where to buy”. Analyzing such requests, the authors found that the group of the most dangerous infodemic narratives includes a) texts that can provoke uncontrolled intake of pharmaceutical drugs, and b) texts that set out conspiracy plots and quasi-medical ideas about the dangers of vaccination, encouraging people to refuse it.

Acknowledgements. The authors of the article express their deep gratitude to Tonya Samsonova, CEO and founder of Durer.ai, founder of TheQuestion.ru, head of Yandex.Q (2019—2021) for organizing access to data and the opportunity to tackle this topic. N. Petrov and D. Radchenko prepared the article in the framework of a research grant funded by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation (grant ID: 075-15-2022-326).

Author Biographies

Alexandra S. Arkhipova, Graduate School of Social Sciences

  • Graduate School of Social Sciences, Paris, France
    • Cand. Sci. (Philology), Visiting Scholar at the Social Anthropology Laboratories

Daria А. Radchenko, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

  • Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
    • Cand. Sci. (Cultural Studies), Senior Researcher at the Laboratory for Theoretical Folklore Studies

Sergey V. Bondarkov, European University at Saint Petersburg

  • European University at Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia
    • Junior researcher at the Institute for the Rule of Law (IRL)

Maria V. Gavrilova, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

  • Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
    • Cand. Sci. (Philology), Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Theoretical Folklore Studies,
  • Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia
    • Researcher at Center for Typology and Semiotics of Folklore

Igor V. Loshchits

  • Moscow, Russia
    • Cand. Sci. (Philosophy), independent data journalist,

Nikita V. Petrov, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

  • Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
    • Cand. Sci. (Philology), Head of the Laboratory for Theoretical Folklore Studies

  • Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russia

    • Associate Professor at the Center of Typological and Semiotics Folklore Studies
  • Moscow Higher School of Social and Economic Sciences, Moscow, Russia
    • Associate Professor at the Faculty of Humanities
  • European University at Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Russia
    • Senior Research Fellow at the Center for the Anthropology of Religion

Boris S. Peigin, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA)

  • Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Moscow, Russia
    • Researcher at the Laboratory for Theoretical Folklore Studies, School for Advanced Studies in Humanities

 

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Published

2023-09-15

How to Cite

Arkhipova А. С., Radchenko Д. А., Bondarkov С. В., Gavrilova М. В., Loshchits И. В., Petrov Н. В. ., & Peigin Б. С. (2023). Fake or True? How People Spread and Verify Rumors Online: НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН,РАСПРОСТРАНЕН И (ИЛИ) НАПРАВЛЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ АРХИПОВОЙ АЛЕКСАНДРОЙ СЕРГЕЕВНОЙ ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА АРХИПОВОЙ АЛЕКСАНДРЫ СЕРГЕЕВНЫ . Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes (ISSN 2219-5467), (4). https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2023.4.2387

Issue

No. 4 (2023)

Section

SOCIOLOGY OF COMMUNICATIONS

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