Politics, Power and a Pandemic: Searching for Information and Accountability During a Twitter Infodemic

ABSTRACT

During the early weeks of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic, society was battling an infodemic–defined as a “tsunami” of online misinformation. Through the lens of mediatization theory, this article examines 800,000 tweets to understand social media information and misinformation related to the COVID-19. Through multi-layered analysis, this article details prominent key words discussed on Twitter connected to pandemic trending hashtags in early-to-mid March 2020 #Covid19 and #Coronavirus. The most prominent word themes included novelty of this virus and associated uncertainty and the spread of misinformation;severity and widespread reach of the virus;call for collective action;and expectations relative to government action. The article explains these findings through mediatization theory, applying how technology influences social media discussions. © The Author(s) 2021.