Socioeconomic Determinants of the COVID-19 Infodemic

TL;DR

This study analyzes how socioeconomic factors influence COVID-19 misinformation patterns across 37 OECD countries, revealing that media diversity and institutional stability help mitigate infodemic risks over time.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive analysis of socioeconomic determinants of COVID-19 infodemic dynamics using Twitter data and advanced data reduction techniques.

Findings

Media diversity acts as a protective factor against misinformation.

Institutional stability correlates with lower infodemic volatility.

Distinct country clusters show different infodemic profiles.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an infodemic of misinformation that impedes effective public health responses. This study examines relationships between socioeconomic factors and infodemic risk patterns across 37 OECD countries using Twitter data from 2020-2022. Employing dimensionality reduction techniques on 20 socioeconomic indicators, we identify complex correlations with infodemic measures that evolve throughout the pandemic. Countries exhibit distinct clustering in their infodemic profiles that transcend conventional socioeconomic categorizations. We find that dynamic information behaviors dominate initial crisis responses, while stable socioeconomic conditions become more influential as the pandemic progresses. News media diet diversity emerges as a significant protective factor, with pluralistic information ecosystems demonstrating greater resilience against misinformation. Additionally, institutional stability correlates strongly with reduced infodemic volatility over time. These findings highlight how infodemics are embedded within broader socioeconomic contexts, providing foundations for targeted interventions to build societal resilience against misinformation during future health emergencies.