Social media has become one of the primary sources of information when it comes to all things pandemic-related.
However, according to new data published by The Center for Black Health & Equity (The Center), the Black community believes social media is the leading cause of misformation about COVID-19.
“This practice of receiving and sharing misinformation amplifies health disparities and harms the Black community, which is already dying from COVID-19 at disproportionate rates,” said Delmonte Jefferson, executive director for The Center, in a statement. “Truth Check aims to correct this contagious spread of inaccurate and false narratives.”
The questionnaire revealed that while 39% sourced information surrounding the COVID-19 vaccine social media, only 6% of participants said they trust online platforms completely to provide accurate information.
The top three sources believed to be primarily responsible for sharing misinformation about the vaccine targeted to the Black community are social media (27%), the news (25%) and the internet (15%).
Nearly seven out of ten (69%) believe that targeting all Americans with misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine is somewhat to very intentional.
Federal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that 76.5% of the total population in the United States have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, Black and Hispanic people have been less likely than their white counterparts to receive a vaccine.
Social networks are trying to tackle the spread of online misinformation about COVID-19—but are failing.
Preliminary research from global civic organization Avaaz suggests that none of the major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, have not prevented the sharing of false rumors during the pandemic.
“The big four tech platforms are failing to act on 37% of the COVID-19 disinformation content sample studied in this research,” Avaaz stated.
The Center has launched TheTruthCheck.org, an online resource to provide African Americans with social media literacy and fact-checking skills needed to avoid the influence of misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
