Social media contributes to misinformation about COVID-19: survey

CHICAGO, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- People who get news from social media are more likely to believe misinformation about coronavirus conspiracies, risk factors and preventative treatments, according to a survey on Americans' attitudes and behaviors around COVID-19 conducted by several U.S. universities.

Of the 21,000 individuals surveyed across the nation between Aug. 7 and 26, 28 percent of Snapchat users, 23 percent of Instagram users and 25 percent of Wikipedia users believed inaccurate claims about COVID-19, according to the survey by researchers from the university consortium among Northwestern, Harvard, Northeastern and Rutgers.