Susceptibility to Disinformation: A Data‐Driven Typology Based on COVID‐19 Hoaxes and Pro‐Russian Propaganda

TL;DR

This study identifies five types of people based on their susceptibility to disinformation about the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, using data from the Czech Republic.

Contribution

The paper introduces a data-driven typology of disinformation susceptibility combining medical and political contexts.

Findings

Four factors underlie disinformation susceptibility: medical, political, economic, and moral/ethical.

Five distinct response types were identified, including a large group with no strong opinion.

A moderate correlation was found between susceptibility to medical and political disinformation.

Abstract

An original dataset based on a national quota sample in the Czech Republic (n = 490, M = 46.09 y/o, 45.7% women) was used to assess susceptibility to medical (COVID‐19) and political (Russian invasion of Ukraine) disinformation. Susceptibility to disinformation was assessed using 30 items addressing contemporary topics. To identify the latent structure underlying these items, an exploratory factor analysis (principal‐axis factoring with direct oblimin rotation) was conducted. EFA yielded four correlated factors: one specific to COVID‐19 hoaxes/misinformation (F1) and three others pertaining to the political (F2), economic (F3), and moral/ethical (F4) dimensions of the Russian war. In order to identify response patterns, all 30 items from 490 participants were subjected to Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) in which the EFA factors served to interpret the five resulting types: a neutral No Strong Opinion type (48%); two disinformation‐resilient types—Rational Pro‐Ukrainians (22%) and Anti‐Russians (7%); and two disinformation‐susceptible types—Pro‐Russians (15%) and the Generally Disinformed (9%). The discussion addresses the sizable No Strong Opinion type and the correlation between COVID‐19 hoaxes and propaganda disinformation (r = 0.47), which supports the ‘monological belief system’ concept. The identified types can be further followed prospectively and retrospectively within an ongoing panel study.

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