Health-related Misinformation Harm during the COVID- 19 Pandemic: An Investigation of Non-comparative and Comparative Harm Perceptions

Abstract

Misinformation about the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) health crisis has been widespread on social media and caused various types of harms in society. While some researchers have investigated the way in which people perceive misinformation harm in crises, little research has systematically examined harms from health-related misinformation. In order to address this gap, we focus on non-comparative and comparative harm perceptions of the affected community in the COVID-19 pandemic context. We examine non-comparative harms (which component harms and contextual harms reflect) and comparative harms (which counter-contextual harms reflect) in order to understand harm perceptions. We also investigate how harm perception varies based on COVID-19 victimization experience. We used a professional survey company named Cint to collect data using a scenario-based survey with 343 participants. We extract various findings such as how contextual features shape perceived harms and reveal the scenarios in which COVID-19 victims perceive higher contextual harms but lower counter-contextual harms. We also examine how corrective actions of social media shape harm perceptions.