This study examines how the credibility of the content of mis- or disinformation, as well as the believability of authors creating such information is assessed in online discussion. More specifically, the investigation was focused on the credibility of mis- or disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. To this end, a sample of 1887 messages posted to a Reddit discussion group was scrutinised by means of qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate that in the assessment of the author’s credibility, the most important criteria are his or her reputation, expertise and honesty in argumentation. In the judgement of the credibility of the content of mis/disinformation, objectivity of information and plausibility of arguments are highly important. The findings highlight that in the assessment of the credibility of mis/disinformation, the author’s qualities such as poor reputation, incompetency and dishonesty are particularly significant because they trigger expectancies about how the information content created by the author is judged.

本研究探讨了如何在在线讨论中评估错误或虚假信息内容的可信度以及创建此类信息的作者的可信度。更具体地说，调查的重点是有关 COVID-19 疫苗的错误或虚假信息的可信度。为此，我们通过定性内容分析对发布到 Reddit 讨论组的 1887 条消息样本进行了仔细检查。研究结果表明，在评估作者的可信度时，最重要的标准是他或她的声誉、专业知识和论证的诚实性。在判断错误/虚假信息内容的可信度时，信息的客观性和论点的合理性非常重要。研究结果强调，在评估错误/虚假信息的可信度时，作者的声誉不佳、无能和不诚实等品质尤其重要，因为它们会引发人们对如何判断作者创建的信息内容的预期。