A global pandemic in the time of viral memes: COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation on TikTok. Issue 8 (3rd August 2021)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- A global pandemic in the time of viral memes: COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation on TikTok. Issue 8 (3rd August 2021)
- Main Title:
- A global pandemic in the time of viral memes: COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and disinformation on TikTok
- Authors:
- Basch, Corey H.
Meleo-Erwin, Zoe
Fera, Joseph
Jaime, Christie
Basch, Charles E. - Abstract:
- ABSTRACT: Misinformation and disinformation regarding COVID-19 and vaccination against it may be contributing to vaccine hesitancy. Social media outlets have reportedly made efforts to limit false information yet untruths related to COVID-19 persist online. The purpose of this study was to describe the content on COVID-19 vaccination on TikTok, an emerging social media platform. One-hundred trending videos were identified from the hashtag #covidvaccine and were coded for content. Collectively, these videos garnered over 35 million views. The coding category with the highest number of videos was "Discouraged a Vaccine" (n = 38), followed by "Encouraged a Vaccine" (n = 36). While only 36 videos encouraged a vaccine, these videos garnered over 50% of the total cumulative views and just under 50% of the total likes; the 38 videos that discouraged a vaccine garnered 39.6% of the total cumulative views, 44.3% of likes, and 47.4% of comments. Of the 38 videos discouraging the vaccine, 25 (65.79%) showed a parody of an adverse reaction and, collectively, received 71.07% of the total views among videos in this category. Twenty-two of these 38 videos (57.89%) falsely conveyed that a vaccine was available, as they were not at the time of the study. Anti-vaccination messaging may undermine efforts to ensure widespread uptake of the various COVID-19 vaccines, particularly for young people who are more likely than other age cohorts to use TikTok.
- Is Part Of:
- Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics. Volume 17:Issue 8(2021)
- Journal:
- Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics
- Issue:
- Volume 17:Issue 8(2021)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 17, Issue 8 (2021)
- Year:
- 2021
- Volume:
- 17
- Issue:
- 8
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2021-0017-0008-0000
- Page Start:
- 2373
- Page End:
- 2377
- Publication Date:
- 2021-08-03
- Subjects:
- TikTok -- COVID-19 -- social media -- vaccine -- prevention -- anti-vaccination
Vaccines -- Periodicals
615.372 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/khvi20/current ↗
http://www.tandfonline.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1080/21645515.2021.1894896 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2164-5515
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - 4336.468655
British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
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- 18990.xml