AI tools developed by USC Analyzing Misinformation during the COVID 19 Pandemic finds users countering misinformation are more established, more emotional, and have larger followings than accounts spreading false claims
From viral tweets claiming garlic water could cure COVID-19 to users promoting dog parasite drugs as treatments for the virus and myths that vaccines make people “Bluetooth connectable,” misinformation spread like wildfire on Twitter (now X) during the pandemic.
At the same time, many users took to the platform to debunk false claims and counter fake health advice.
But who were the users behind the misinformation spread and these competing streams of information?
In a new study, USC researchers developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to identify tweets containing COVID-19 misinformation and distinguish the users spreading false claims from those actively countering them.
Rather than simply detecting misinformation, the researchers aimed to understand the people behind it by classifying user profiles into two groups: accounts that spread misinformation and accounts that countered it.
Using a large dataset of tweets posted between 2020 and 2021, the team trained large language models (LLMs) to identify misinformation-related content and analyze how the two groups differed in their online behavior and profile characteristics.
Led by USC Viterbi and USC Stevens professor Emilio Ferrara and his PhD student Eun Cheol Choi, the project concluded this week...
AI tools developed by USC Analyzing Misinformation during the COVID 19 Pandemic finds users countering misinformation are more established, more emotional, and have larger followings than accounts ...