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Reliance on Social Media News Amplifies COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories, Report
Finds

Henry Ridgwell

   LONDON - People who get most of their news from social media like
   Facebook and YouTube are much more likely to believe conspiracy
   theories about the coronavirus pandemic, according to research from
   Kings College London.

   The report also suggests those reliant on social media for news are
   much more likely to ignore government messaging on staying safe during
   the pandemic and more likely to disobey lockdown rules.

   The research was published earlier this month in the journal
   [1]Psychological Medicine.

   Researchers from Kings College London and polling company Ipsos MORI
   looked at a range of conspiracy theories surrounding the pandemic.

   "We defined conspiracy theories as explanations of the COVID-19
   pandemic which suggest that it was intentional, so either that the
   virus was created artificially or that the virus is not as dangerous as
   people think and something else is being used to deliberately cause
   what most of us believe to be the symptoms of the virus, or the idea
   that maybe there isn't a problem at all," said Daniel Allington, lead
   author of the report, in a June 24 Skype interview with VOA. COVID-19
   is the disease caused by the coronavirus.

References

   1. https://doi.org/10.1017/S003329172000224X

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