Retracted Articles about COVID-19 Vaccines Enable Vaccine Misinformation on Twitter

TL;DR

This study analyzes how retracted COVID-19 vaccine articles spread misinformation on Twitter, revealing that over a quarter of related tweets contain false claims, often ignoring or politicizing retractions.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the content and nature of misinformation related to retracted COVID-19 vaccine research on social media.

Findings

27.4% of tweets contained retraction-related misinformation

Misinformed tweets often ignored or politicized retractions

Highlights need for social media platforms to combat retraction misinformation

Abstract

Retracted scientific articles about COVID-19 vaccines have proliferated false claims about vaccination harms and discouraged vaccine acceptance. Our study analyzed the topical content of 4,876 English-language tweets about retracted COVID-19 vaccine research and found that 27.4% of tweets contained retraction-related misinformation. Misinformed tweets either ignored the retraction, or less commonly, politicized the retraction using conspiratorial rhetoric. To address this, Twitter and other social media platforms should expand their efforts to address retraction-related misinformation.