The role of Twitter in the WHO’s fight against the infodemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has far-reaching consequences in various fields. In addition to its health and economic impact, there are also social, cultural and informational impacts. Regarding the latter, the World Health Organization (WHO) flagged concerns about the infodemic at the beginning of 2020. The main objective of this paper is to explore how the WHO uses its Twitter profile to inform the population on vaccines against the coronavirus, thus preventing or mitigating misleading or false information both in the media and on social networks. This study analyzed 849 vaccine-related tweets posted by the WHO on its Twitter account from 9 November 2020 (when the 73rd World Health Assembly resumed) to 14 March 2021 (three months after the start of vaccination). In order to understand the data collected, these results were compared with the actions carried out by the WHO and with the information and debates throughout this period. The analysis shows that the WHO is decidedly committed to the use of these tools as a means to disseminate messages that provide the population with accurate and scientific information, as well as to combat mis- and disinformation about the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination process.