Browsing by Author "Cunha, Joana Milhazes da"
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- Médicos pela verdade, mentira e ódioPublication . Cunha, Joana Milhazes da; Oliveira, Luciana Gomes deThe COVID-19 pandemic catalysed the phenomenon of false information sharing on social networks, which became explosive as a result of the fear and uncertainty felt by citizens, resulting in its classification as an “infodemic” by the World Health Organization, i.e. a disinformation epidemic. In this paper, we present the results of an investigation developed around the phenomenon of disinformation about COVID-19 on Facebook, focusing on the page "Médicos pela Verdade - Portugal". This movement gained projection and relevance thanks to the social consternation it caused, following its persistent dissemination of false information. Thus, in order to obtain a comprehensive and in-depth view of the reality of the page, as a salient actor in the disinformation phenomenon, we proceeded to characterize the community as to its activity and as to the engagement generated by its followers; we identified what are the most debated themes on the page; what are the beliefs postulated over time; and we observed the community polarization trends, resorting to established theoretical models. In this descriptive case study we adopted a mixed research strategy, of embedded typology, using the analysis of metrics and thematic content analysis, in deductive and inductive processes, on a sample of 82 posts and 2 460 comments, selected based on their popularity, and representing a coverage of 25% of all content published in the community. The results show that this is a community with a very polarized discourse, revealing a true echo chamber, where the main topics of discussion focus on the discredit of protective measures, such as the use of masks and PCR tests. A total of 32 beliefs associated with COVID-19 were identified, most of them demonstrably false, postulated in the community, by physicians and followers. Political and cultural hate speech were also heavily present, the latter supported by the belief that the pandemic is an hoax, mainly fabricated by the media. This research offers the first systematized view on the phenomenon of misinformation around COVID-19 in this Portuguese Facebook community, which leads us to believe that the results have relevant scientific and social impacts.