The Perfect Enemy | From science to politics: COVID-19 information fatigue on YouTube - BMC Public Health - BMC Public Health
July 9, 2025

From science to politics: COVID-19 information fatigue on YouTube – BMC Public Health – BMC Public Health

From science to politics: COVID-19 information fatigue on YouTube – BMC Public Health  BMC Public Health

From science to politics: COVID-19 information fatigue on YouTube – BMC Public Health – BMC Public Health
From science to politics: COVID-19 information fatigue on YouTube – BMC Public Health – BMC Public Health
  • World Health Organization. Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) SITUATION REPORT – 1. 2020. https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/330760. Accessed 15 Nov 2020.

  • Généreux M, Schluter PJ, Hung KK, Wong CS, Pui Yin Mok C, O’Sullivan T, et al. One Virus, Four Continents, Eight Countries: An Interdisciplinary and International Study on the Psychosocial Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic among Adults. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17:8390.

    PubMed Central  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krishnan L, Ogunwole SM, Cooper LA. Historical Insights on Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, and Racial Disparities: Illuminating a Path Forward. Ann Intern Med. 2020;173:474–81.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts JD, Tehrani SO. Environments, Behaviors, and Inequalities: Reflecting on the Impacts of the Influenza and Coronavirus Pandemics in the United States. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17:4484.

    CAS  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicola M, Alsafi Z, Sohrabi C, Kerwan A, Al-Jabir A, Iosifidis C, et al. The socio-economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): A review. Int J Surg. 2020;78:185–93.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • González-Padilla DA, Tortolero-Blanco L. Social media influence in the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int Braz J Urol. 2020;46:120–4.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tsao SF, Chen H, Tisseverasinghe T, Yang Y, Li L, Butt ZA. What social media told us in the time of COVID-19: a scoping review. Lancet Digit Health. 2021;3:e175–94.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. Infodemic. 2022. https://www.who.int/health-topics/infodemic/the-covid-19-infodemic#tab=tab_1. Accessed 13 Mar 2022.

  • WHO, UN, UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNAIDS, ITU, UN Global Pulse, and IFRC. Managing the COVID-19 infodemic: Promoting healthy behaviours and mitigating the harm from misinformation and disinformation. Joint statement. 2020. https://www.who.int/news/item/23-09-2020-managing-the-covid-19-infodemic-promoting-healthy-behaviours-and-mitigating-the-harm-from-misinformation-and-disinformation. Accessed 25 Mar 2021.

  • Chan MS, Winneg K, Hawkins L, Farhadloo M, Jamieson KH, Albarracín D. Legacy and social media respectively influence risk perceptions and protective behaviors during emerging health threats: A multi-wave analysis of communications on Zika virus cases. Soc Sci Med. 2018;212:50–9.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choi DH, NG-Y Yoo W. The impact of social media on risk perceptions during the MERS outbreak in south korea. In: Computers in Human Behavior. 2017. p. 422–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabarron E, Oyeyemi SO, Wynn R. COVID-19-related misinformation on social media: a systematic review. Bull World Health Organ. 2021;99:455–63.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li L, Ma Z, Lee H, Lee S. Can social media data be used to evaluate the risk of human interactions during the COVID-19 pandemic? Int J Disaster Risk Reduct. 2021;56:102142.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen J, Wang Y. Social Media Use for Health Purposes: Systematic Review. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23:e17917.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu YC, Chen YL, Wei HN, Yang YW, Chen YH. Risk and Outbreak Communication: Lessons from Taiwan’s Experiences in the Post-SARS Era. Health Secur. 2017;15:165–9.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pew Research Center. Social media use in 2021. 2021. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/. Accessed 10 Jun 2021.

  • Statista. Most popular social networks worldwide as of april 2021, ranked by number of active users. 2021. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/. Accessed 10 Jun 2021.

  • D’Souza RS, D’Souza S, Strand N, Anderson A, Vogt MNP, Olatoye O. YouTube as a source of medical information on the novel coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Glob Public Health. 2020;15:935–42.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khatri P, Singh SR, Belani NK, Yeong YL, Lohan R, Lim YW, et al. YouTube as source of information on 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak: a cross sectional study of English and Mandarin content. Travel Med Infect Dis. 2020;35:101636.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Abd-Alrazaq A, Alhuwail D, Househ M, Hamdi M, Shah Z. Top Concerns of Tweeters During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Infoveillance Study. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22:e19016.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allington D, Duffy B, Wessely S, Dhavan N, Rubin J. Health-protective behaviour, social media usage and conspiracy belief during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Psychol Med. 2021;51:1763–9.

  • Atlani-Duault L, Ward JK, Roy M, Morin C, Wilson A. Tracking online heroisation and blame in epidemics. Lancet Public Health. 2020;5:e137–8.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basch CH, Hillyer GC, Meleo-Erwin ZC, Jaime C, Mohlman J, Basch CE. Preventive Behaviors Conveyed on YouTube to Mitigate Transmission of COVID-19: Cross-Sectional Study. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020;6:e18807.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nahema Marchal PNH Hubert Au. Coronavirus news and information on YouTube: A content analysis of popular search terms. The Computational Propaganda Project (COMPROP). 2020. https://comprop.oii.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/93/2020/04/YouTube-Memo-COVID-19-FINAL.pdf. Accessed 15 Jan 2021.

  • Hernández-García I, Giménez-Júlvez T. Characteristics of YouTube Videos in Spanish on How to Prevent COVID-19. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17:4671.

    PubMed Central  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Moon H, Lee GH. Evaluation of Korean-Language COVID-19-Related Medical Information on YouTube: Cross-Sectional Infodemiology Study. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22:e20775.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ölcer S, Yilmaz-Aslan Y, Brzoska P. Lay perspectives on social distancing and other official recommendations and regulations in the time of COVID-19: a qualitative study of social media posts. BMC Public Health. 2020;20:963.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hillyer GC, Basch CH, Basch CE. Coverage of Transmission of COVID-19 Information on Successive Samples of YouTube Videos. J Community Health. 2021;46:817–21.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Havey NF. Partisan public health: how does political ideology influence support for COVID-19 related misinformation? J Comput Soc Sci. 2020:1–24.

  • Czypionka T, Greenhalgh T, Bassler D, Bryant MB. Ann Intern MedMasks and Face Coverings for the Lay Public : A Narrative Update. Ann Intern Med. 2021;174:511–20.

  • Islam MS, Kamal AM, Kabir A, Southern DL, Khan SH, Hasan SMM, et al. COVID-19 vaccine rumors and conspiracy theories: The need for cognitive inoculation against misinformation to improve vaccine adherence. PLoS One. 2021;16:e0251605.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Loomba S, de Figueiredo A, Piatek SJ, de Graaf K, Larson HJ. Author Correction: Measuring the impact of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on vaccination intent in the UK and USA. Nat Hum Behav. 2021;5:407.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischhoff B, Broomell SB. Judgment and Decision Making. Annu Rev Psychol. 2020;71:331–55.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slovic P. The perception gap: Radiation and risk. In: Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 2012. p. 67–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gozzi N, Tizzani M, Starnini M, Ciulla F, Paolotti D, Panisson A, et al. Collective Response to Media Coverage of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Reddit and Wikipedia: Mixed-Methods Analysis. J Med Internet Res. 2020;22:e21597.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lorenz-Spreen P, Mønsted BM, Hövel P, Lehmann S. Accelerating dynamics of collective attention. Nat Commun. 2019;10:1759.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bernard HR, Wutich A, Ryan GW. Analyzing qualitative data: Systematic approaches, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications; 2017.

  • Pandey A, Patni N, Singh M, Sood A, Singh G. YouTube as a source of information on the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Am J Prev Med. 2010;38:1–3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Quarantine and isolation. 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/quarantine-isolation.html. Accessed 26 Apr 2021.

  • Dushoff J, Kain MP, Bolker BM. I can see clearly now: Reinterpreting statistical significance. In: Methods in Ecology and Evolution. 2019. p. 756–9.

    Google Scholar 

  • McHugh ML. Interrater reliability: the kappa statistic. Biochem Med (Zagreb). 2012;22:276–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Our World in Data. Daily new confirmed COVID-19 cases per million people. 2021. https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explorer?zoomToSelection=true&time=2020-03-01..latest&pickerSort=asc&pickerMetric=location&Metric=Confirmed+cases&Interval=7-day+rolling+average&Relative+to+Population=true&Align+outbreaks=false&country=USA~GBR~CAN~DEU~ITA~IND. Accessed 12 Apr 2021.

  • FDA. FDA takes key action in fight against COVID-19 by issuing emergency use authorization for first COVID-19 vaccine. 2020. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-takes-key-action-fight-against-covid-19-issuing-emergency-use-authorization-first-covid-19. Accessed 10 Aug 2021.

  • Ledford H, Cyranoski D, Van Noorden R. The UK has approved a COVID vaccine – here’s what scientists now want to know. Nature. 2020;588:205–6.

    CAS  PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koh PK, Chan LL, Tan EK. Messaging Fatigue and Desensitisation to Information During Pandemic. Arch Med Res. 2020;51:716–7.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim S, So J. How Message Fatigue toward Health Messages Leads to Ineffective Persuasive Outcomes: Examining the Mediating Roles of Reactance and Inattention. J Health Commun. 2018;23:109–16.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarke H, Stewart MC, Ho K. Did Covid-19 Kill Trump Politically? The Pandemic and Voting in the 2020 Presidential Election. Soc Sci Q. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12992.

  • Effenberger M, Kronbichler A, Shin JI, Mayer G, Tilg H, Perco P. Analysis. Int J Infect Dis. 2020;95:192–7.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristensen K, Lorenz E, May J, Strauss R. Exploring the use of web searches for risk communication during COVID-19 in Germany. Sci Rep. 2021;11:6419.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mangono T, Smittenaar P, Caplan Y, Huang VS, Sutermaster S, Kemp H, et al. Information-Seeking Patterns During the COVID-19 Pandemic Across the United States: Longitudinal Analysis of Google Trends Data. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23:e22933.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mollema L, Harmsen IA, Broekhuizen E, Clijnk R, De Melker H, Paulussen T, et al. Disease detection or public opinion reflection? Content analysis of tweets, other social media, and online newspapers during the measles outbreak in The Netherlands in 2013. J Med Internet Res. 2015;17:e128.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Teslya A, Pham TM, Godijk NG, Kretzschmar ME, Bootsma MCJ, Rozhnova G. Impact of self-imposed prevention measures and short-term government-imposed social distancing on mitigating and delaying a COVID-19 epidemic: A modelling study. PLoS Med. 2020;17:e1003166.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brooks JT, Butler JC, Redfield RR. JAMAUniversal Masking to Prevent SARS-CoV-2 Transmission-The Time Is Now. JAMA. 2020;324:635–7.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC calls on americans to wear masks to prevent COVID-19 spread. 2021. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2020/p0714-americans-to-wear-masks.html. Accessed 26 Apr 2021.

  • Puri N, Coomes EA, Haghbayan H, Gunaratne K. Social media and vaccine hesitancy: new updates for the era of COVID-19 and globalized infectious diseases. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2020;16:2586–93.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ball P. The lightning-fast quest for COVID vaccines – and what it means for other diseases. Nature. 2021;589:16–8.

    CAS  PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Killgore WDS, Cloonan SA, Taylor EC, Dailey NS. The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Here-Now Who Is Willing to Get It? Vaccines (Basel). 2021;9:339.

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bavel JJV, Baicker K, Boggio PS, Capraro V, Cichocka A, Cikara M, et al. Using social and behavioural science to support COVID-19 pandemic response. Nat Hum Behav. 2020;4:460–71.

    PubMed  Article  Google Scholar 

  • Youngmann R, Kushnirovich N. Resource Threat versus Resource Loss and Emotional Well-Being of Ethnic Minorities during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18:12590.

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Article  Google Scholar