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Toxicity and verbal aggression on social media: Polarized discourse on wearing face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic
Big Data & Society ( IF 8.731 ) Pub Date : 2021-06-10 , DOI: 10.1177/20539517211023533
Paola Pascual-Ferrá 1 , Neil Alperstein 1 , Daniel J Barnett 2 , Rajiv N Rimal 3
Affiliation  

Medical and public health professionals recommend wearing face masks to combat the spread of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19). While the majority of people in the United States support wearing face masks as an effective tool to combat COVID-19, a smaller percentage declared the recommendation by public health agencies as a government imposition and an infringement on personal liberty. Social media play a significant role in amplifying public health issues, whereby a minority against the imposition can speak loudly, perhaps using tactics of verbal aggression taking the form of toxic language. We investigated the role that toxicity plays in the online discourse around wearing face masks. Overall, we found tweets including anti-mask hashtags were significantly more likely to use toxic language, while tweets with pro-mask hashtags were somewhat less toxic with the exception of #WearADamnMask. We conclude that the tensions between these two positions raise doubt and uncertainty around the issue, which make it difficult for health communicators to break through the clutter in order to combat the infodemic. Public health agencies and other governmental institutions should monitor toxicity trends on social media in order to better ascertain prevailing sentiment toward their recommendations and then apply these data-driven insights to refine and adapt their risk communication messaging toward mask wearing, vaccine uptake, and other interventions.



中文翻译:

社交媒体上的毒性和言语攻击:在 COVID-19 大流行期间戴口罩的两极分化话语

医疗和公共卫生专业人员建议戴口罩以对抗 2019 年冠状病毒病 (COVID-19) 的传播。虽然美国大多数人支持戴口罩作为对抗 COVID-19 的有效工具,但有一小部分人宣布公共卫生机构的建议是政府强加的,是对个人自由的侵犯。社交媒体在放大公共卫生问题方面发挥着重要作用,少数反对强加的人可以大声说话,也许使用有毒语言形式的口头攻击策略。我们调查了毒性在围绕戴口罩的在线讨论中所起的作用。总体而言,我们发现包括反面具标签在内的推文更有可能使用有毒语言,除了#WearADamnMask 之外,带有亲面具标签的推文毒性稍低。我们得出的结论是,这两种立场之间的紧张关系引发了对该问题的怀疑和不确定性,这使得健康传播者难以突破混乱​​以对抗信息流行病。公共卫生机构和其他政府机构应监控社交媒体上的毒性趋势,以更好地确定对其建议的普遍看法,然后应用这些数据驱动的见解来完善和调整其风险沟通信息,以适应戴口罩、接种疫苗和其他干预措施. 这使得健康传播者很难突破混乱以对抗信息流行病。公共卫生机构和其他政府机构应监控社交媒体上的毒性趋势,以更好地确定对其建议的普遍看法,然后应用这些数据驱动的见解来完善和调整其风险沟通信息,以适应戴口罩、接种疫苗和其他干预措施. 这使得健康传播者很难突破混乱以对抗信息流行病。公共卫生机构和其他政府机构应监控社交媒体上的毒性趋势,以更好地确定对其建议的普遍看法,然后应用这些数据驱动的见解来完善和调整其风险沟通信息,以适应戴口罩、接种疫苗和其他干预措施.

更新日期:2021-06-11
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