Birds of a feather? Mis- and dis-information on the social media platform X related to avian influenza
Mis- and dis-information about the causes of and ways to prevent HPAI infections were common. A large portion of the tweets contained references to a planned epidemic or "plandemic" to influence the upcoming 2024 US presidential election. These tweets were countered by a limited number of tweets discussing infection locations, case reports, and preventive measures. Our study can be used by public health officials and clinicians to influence the discourse on current and future outbreaks.
Authors
- John Hanna (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0909-9396)
- Zachary Most (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7021-8951)
- Marlon I. Diaz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1870-2663)
- Christoph U. Lehmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9559-4646)
- Richard J Medford (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9814-8043)
- Lauren N Cooper (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4000-9192)
Institutions
- Texas Tech University (US)
- East Carolina University (US)
- The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (US)
- Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Antimicrobial Stewardship & Healthcare Epidemiology
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1017/ash.2024.471
- Citations
- 4
- Primary Topic
- Misinformation and Its Impacts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 16.81
Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences