Covid-19, disinformation and Facebook: circulation of URLs about hydroxychloroquine in public pages and groups

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the circulation of disinformation URLs on Facebook. Our case study is the use of hydroxychloroquine as a cure or prophylaxis for Covid-19. We analyze the presence of URLs in over 70 thousand posts in public pages and groups on Facebook. We use Social Network Analysis to map URLs circulation in pages and group networks. We use Content Analysis to identify the sources of information and the presence of disinformation. Our results are: (1) URLs circulation were polarized, both in pages and group networks; (2) disinformation was used to reinforce a pro-hydroxychloroquine narrative; and (3) groups gave more visibility to hyperpartisan media and disinformation, compared to the pages; groups also more often shared URLs.

Keywords
information circulation; Covid-19; disinformation; Facebook; polarization