Does the platform matter? Social media and COVID-19 conspiracy theory beliefs in 17 countries

被引：73

作者：

Theocharis, Yannis ^{[1
]}

Cardenal, Ana ^{[2
]}

Jin, Soyeon ^{[1
]}

Aalberg, Toril ^{[3
]}

Hopmann, David Nicolas ^{[4
]}

Stromback, Jesper ^{[5
]}

Castro, Laia ^{[6
,7
]}

Esser, Frank ^{[6
,8
]}

Van Aelst, Peter ^{[9
]}

de Vreese, Claes ^{[10
]}

Corbu, Nicoleta ^{[11
]}

Koc-Michalska, Karolina ^{[12
]}

Matthes, Joerg ^{[13
]}

Schemer, Christian ^{[14
]}

Sheafer, Tamir ^{[15
,16
,17
]}

Splendore, Sergio ^{[18
]}

Stanyer, James ^{[19
]}

Stepinska, Agnieszka ^{[20
]}

Stetka, Vaclav ^{[21
]}

机构：

[1] Tech Univ Munich, Dept Governance, Digital Governance, Munich, Germany

[2] Univ Oberta Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

[3] Norwegian Univ Sci & Technol, Trondheim, Norway

[4] Univ Southern Denmark, Ctr Journalism, Odense, Denmark

[5] Univ Gothenburg, Dept Journalism Media & Commun, Journalism & Polit Commun, Gothenburg, Sweden

[6] Univ Zurich, Dept Commun & Media Res, Zurich, Switzerland

[7] Univ Int Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

[8] Univ Zurich, Int & Comparat Media Res, Zurich, Switzerland

[9] Univ Antwerp, Dept Polit Sci, Antwerp, Belgium

[10] Univ Amsterdam, Fac Maatschappij & Gedragswetens, Amsterdam, Netherlands

[11] Natl Univ Polit Studies & Publ Adm, Bucharest, Romania

[12] Audencia Business Sch, Nantes, France

[13] Univ Vienna, Commun Sci, Vienna, Austria

[14] Johannes Gutenberg Univ Mainz, Dept Commun, Commun, Mainz, Germany

[15] Hebrew Univ Jerusalem, Dept Polit Sci, Jerusalem, Israel

[16] Hebrew Univ Jerusalem, Dept Commun & Journalism, Jerusalem, Israel

[17] Hebrew Univ Jerusalem, Fac Social Sci, Jerusalem, Israel

[18] Univ Milan, Dept Social & Polit Sci, Milan, Italy

[19] Loughborough Univ, Sch Social Sci & Humanities, Commun & Media Anal, Loughborough, Leics, England

[20] Poznan Univ, Poznan, Poland

[21] Loughborough Univ, Sch Social Sci & Humanities, Commun & Media Studies, Loughborough, Leics, England

来源：

NEW MEDIA & SOCIETY | 2023年 / 25卷 / 12期

基金：

英国经济与社会研究理事会;

关键词：

Affordances; conspiracy theories; COVID-19; misperceptions; social media; FACEBOOK; MISINFORMATION; COMMUNICATION; EXPOSURE; TWITTER; OPINION; NEWS;

D O I：

10.1177/14614448211045666

中图分类号：

G2 [信息与知识传播];

学科分类号：

05 ; 0503 ;

摘要：

While the role of social media in the spread of conspiracy theories has received much attention, a key deficit in previous research is the lack of distinction between different types of platforms. This study places the role of social media affordances in facilitating the spread of conspiracy beliefs at the center of its enquiry. We examine the relationship between platform use and conspiracy theory beliefs related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Relying on the concept of technological affordances, we theorize that variation across key features make some platforms more fertile places for conspiracy beliefs than others. Using data from a crossnational dataset based on a two-wave online survey conducted in 17 countries before and after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we show that Twitter has a negative effect on conspiracy beliefs-as opposed to all other platforms under examination which are found to have a positive effect.

引用

页码：3412 / 3437

页数：26

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