Jad Melki|Hani Tamim|Dima Hadid|Maha Makki|Jana El Amine|Eveline Hitti
Mitigating infodemics: The relationship between news exposure and trust and belief in COVID-19 fake news and social media spreading
Lebanese American University|American University of Beirut Medical Center|American University of Beirut Medical Center|American University of Beirut Medical Center|Lebanese American University|American University of Beirut Medical Center
introduction misinformation surrounding covid19 poses global public health problem adversely affects governments abilities mitigate disease causes accidental deaths selfharm due false beliefs virus prevention measures vaccines cures aim examine relationship exposure trust covid19 news television social media interpersonal communication information sources healthcare experts government clerics belief covid19 myths false information well critical verification practices posting social media methods use crosssectional researcheradministered phone survey adults living lebanon march 27 april 23 2020 results sample included 561 men 439 women 379 university degree 630 older 30 7 media literacy training trust covid19 news social media 95ci105152 interpersonal communication 95ci125182 trust information clerics 95ci125182 likely believe covid19 myths false information university graduates 95ci025051 trust information government 95ci065089 less likely believe myths false information believe covid19 myths false information 95ci025070 less likely engage critical social media posting practices underwent media literacy training 95ci124655 likely engage critical social media posting practices conclusion higher education trust information government contributed decreasing belief covid19 myths false information trust news social media interpersonal communication clerics contributed increasing belief covid19 myths false information turn contributed less critical social media posting practices thereby exacerbated infodemic media literacy training contributed increasing critical social media posting practices thereby played role mitigating infodemic