Vaccine misinformation has now become endemic, with estimates that more than 100 million Facebook users have been exposed to some form of it. The complexity of health information, the role of expert intermediaries in disseminating information, and the information dynamics of social media create an environment in which harmful misinformation rapidly spreads.

In this lunchtime seminar by the Open Source Communications, Analytics Research Group (OSCAR), Giandomenico Di Domenico will explore the processes through which vaccine misinformation originating from online marketplaces (e.g. Amazon.com) is legitimised and then spread through social media. By performing a content analysis on a large dataset of social media posts and marketplace information in which these contents are sourced, Giandomenico’s research identifies the legitimation processes that elicit the spread of vaccine misinformation and normalise discussions around vaccine hesitancy. In particular, the research identifies the role that perceived expertise and algorithmically driven recommendation systems play in boosting the discoverability and virality of vaccine misinformation.

Speaker Biography

Giandomenico Di Domenico is a PhD researcher in Marketing at the University of Portsmouth. His broad topic of interest is consumer behaviour on social media with a specific interest in fake news and misinformation and their consequences on both brands and consumers.

When: 12pm-1pm, 6th May 2021

Where: This event will be held on Zoom. To register, follow this link. Once you have registered, you will be sent the link and passcode to access the call.

Contact: [email protected]