Social Media Use and Misinformation Among Asian Americans During COVID-19

• Published in: Frontiers in public health Vol. 9; p. 764681
• Main Authors: Chong, Stella K, Ali, Shahmir H, Ðoàn, Lan N, Yi, Stella S, Trinh-Shevrin, Chau, Kwon, Simona C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 14-01-2022
• Subjects: Asian; Asian American; Communication; COVID-19; COVID-19 Vaccines; Humans; infodemic; mass media; misinformation; Public Health; SARS-CoV-2; Social Media; United States - epidemiology; United States; COVID-19; health disparity; infodemic; misinformation; health misinformation; mass media; Asian American; social media
• ISSN: 2296-2565; 2296-2565
• DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.764681

Social media has been crucial for seeking and communicating COVID-19 information. However, social media has also promulgated misinformation, which is particularly concerning among Asian Americans who may rely on in-language information and utilize social media platforms to connect to Asia-based networks. There is limited literature examining social media use for COVID-19 information and the subsequent impact of misinformation on health behaviors among Asian Americans. This perspective reviews recent research, news, and gray literature to examine the dissemination of COVID-19 misinformation on social media platforms to Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and South Asian Americans. We discuss the linkage of COVID-19 misinformation to health behaviors, with emphasis on COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and vaccine decision-making in Asian American communities. We then discuss community- and research-driven responses to investigate misinformation during the pandemic. Lastly, we propose recommendations to mitigate misinformation and address the COVID-19 infodemic among Asian Americans.