An Analysis of False Information and Denial/Correction Tweets Related to the COVID-19 Vaccine

Abstract

Novel Coronavirus infections (COVID-19) have spread since 2020, and a variety of information on infectious diseases has been shared on Twitter. In Japan, the vaccination began in February 2021, however false information about the vaccine and posts (tweets) denying or correcting the false information have been shared since that time. In order to suppress social confusion, it is necessary to prevent the spread of false information. Therefore, it is crucial to clarify the characteristics of tweets denying or correcting false information. In this study, we focus on “infertility” and “microchip” as keywords related to false information about the vaccine, and collect tweets containing each keyword. Then we divide those tweets into those that deny or correct the false information and others, and compare the tweets with a large number of retweets. Moreover, we clarify the characteristics of the posters of the tweets that deny or correct the false information.