The contagion of misinformation spreads to monkeypox - Part 1
Our latest analysis delves into why the misinformation crisis surrounding diseases like monkeypox has become a public health crisis.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has experienced an explosion of misinformation. The fundamentals of science and modern medicine have been ridiculed and challenged by online communities relishing in falsehoods and misleading information that has stunted critical progress on public health measures designed to save lives.
The consequences of this catalyzation have meant that public trust in institutions, global policymakers and influential figures has been eroded.
Now, this sharp trajectory in the rise of misinformation relating to health issues has sparked the spread of untruthful claims associated with the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox.
How are these dangerous, false narratives hampering public health efforts on vaccinations and damaging trust in government authorities? Could we have predicted the contagion of misinformation on monkeypox? What’s next for misinformation and public health discourse and how can we work together to prevent it?
This Ripple Research analysis delves into these questions and applies our active listening methodology to dissect millions of online conversations around monkeypox to better understand the disease’s current infodemic.
What is monkeypox?
Since May 2022, monkeypox, a viral zoonotic infection has amassed much global attention. The disease is spread by direct contact with blood, bodily fluids, or cutaneous or mucosal lesions of affected animals. It has typically been endemic to central and West Africa since it was first discovered in 1958 and the first human case was identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since then, there have been minor outbreaks of monkeypox in 2003 in the USA and in 2017-18 in Nigeria. Yet, as a health event – neither of these incidents received significant global attention. So what makes the 2022 outbreak so different?
According to the WHO, between 1st January to 15th June 2022 - a cumulative total of over 2100 laboratory cases have been confirmed from 42 countries. 98% of these cases have been reported since May, predominantly from Europe. Yet, these figures are moderate. In fact - the CDC has reported as of 12th July there are a total of just over 10,600 cases of monkeypox across the world.
Figure 1 demonstrates the global spread of monkeypox as of July 2022.
To unpick how the global spread of monkeypox is correlated to the rise in misinformation, particularly on public health issues - we deployed our active listening techniques alongside qualitative research to assess online conversations.
By analysing conversation data on monkeypox, we sought to identify the key narratives that are shaping misinformation about the disease.
We wanted to review how these results are linked to the spread of misinformation sparked throughout the global coronavirus pandemic, to detect the dominant emotions expressed and leverage this information to inform how stakeholders can work together to appease and manage the spread of falsehoods about public health events.
What caused online conversations around monkeypox to spike 800% in a single day?
When the number of cases in Europe began to steadily increase in May, monkeypox fell into the media spotlight, attracting significant global news and social media attention across a short time span of two weeks.
Our research indicates that the epicentres of the online conversations about monkeypox were in Europe and the United States, where the volume of conversation spiked 800% in a single day between the 17th and 18th of May. This escalation was provoked by a WHO press conference which listed the organisation’s fight against the monkeypox outbreak alongside combatting COVID-19 and Ebola. This time period was also characterised by the USA reporting its first new case.
Figure 2 - How conversations about monkeypox spread across the world throughout May
Our findings – The dominant misinformation narratives around Monkeypox
The heightened level of awareness about the spread of monkeypox this year has given rise to numerous misinformation narratives. As the number of cases has steadily increased, the sentiment has mirrored the sense of despair, trauma and fear felt throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Misinformation has fed into new uncertainties about monkeypox, firstly surrounding vaccination hesitancy and secondly, distrust in governing public authorities.
1. Anti-vaccination sentiment in 2022 continues to permeate public consciousness in the aftermath of COVID-19
Narratives surrounding vaccine hesitancy existed long before the global coronavirus pandemic. In fact, anti-vaccination campaigns against smallpox began in the early 1800s, facing numerous objections on religious, scientific and political grounds. This level of scepticism, manifesting in the dominant emotions of disgust, anger and fear has been detected in our research on monkeypox.
Figure 3 - The dominant emotions expressed during conversations about vaccines
How have online conversations fed into this perpetual cycle of fear surrounding vaccinations? The current infodemic, whereby an abundance of false, misleading information is nurtured in digital and physical environments, is creating a public health concern as people opt out of vaccinations. These common misinformation narratives have become dangerously contagious.
For instance, some online conversations on forums like Reddit have claimed the rise in COVID vaccinations will lead to weakened immune systems or that they have contributed to the spread of AIDS, hepatitis and monkeypox.
Similarly, online debates have fed into myths that monkeypox cases are highest in countries that have rolled out the Johnson & Johnson and Astrazeneca vaccine, due to the fact they are ‘chimpanzee adenovirus vaccines’.
As the producers of vaccines, global pharmaceutical companies have become the protagonists of misleading narratives surrounding monkeypox too. Conspirators suggest that their desire for vaccine rollouts is driven purely by financial gain and that ‘Big Pharma’ companies are purposefully creating and spreading diseases to drive demand for their vaccines and drugs. From our analysis, terms like ‘Big Pharma’ evoke unprecedented levels of anger within the conversations on monkeypox.
Figure 4 - Conversations about Big Pharma trigger negative sentiment
To continue reading our findings and to understand how we can develop a cure for the misinformation crisis, click here for Part 2.
If you’re interested in reading more on this topic, look at our case study that explores disinformation on social media in India.
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