Beliefs in Misinformation About COVID-19 and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Are Linked: Evidence From a Nationally Representative Survey Study

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F00023752%3A_____%2F25%3A43921481" target="_blank" >RIV/00023752:_____/25:43921481 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/67985807:_____/25:00635690 RIV/00216208:11110/25:10495839 RIV/00216208:11120/25:43928198

Result on the web

<a href="https://infodemiology.jmir.org/2025/1/e62913" target="_blank" >https://infodemiology.jmir.org/2025/1/e62913</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/62913" target="_blank" >10.2196/62913</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Beliefs in Misinformation About COVID-19 and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine Are Linked: Evidence From a Nationally Representative Survey Study

Original language description

Background: Detrimental effects of misinformation were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Presently, amid Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, another wave of misinformation is spreading on the web and impacting our daily lives, with many citizens and politicians embracing Russian propaganda narratives. Despite the lack of an objective connection between these 2 societal issues, anecdotal observations suggest that supporters of misinformation regarding COVID-19 (BM-C) have also adopted misinformation about the war in Ukraine (BM-U) while sharing similar media use patterns and political attitudes.Objective: The aim of this study was to determine whether there is a link between respondents’ endorsement of the 2 sets of misinformation narratives, and whether some of the selected factors (media use, political trust, vaccine hesitancy, and belief rigidity) are associated with both BM-C and BM-U.Methods: We conducted a survey on a nationally representative sample of 1623 individuals in the Czech Republic. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to identify the relationship between BM-C and BM-U. In addition, multiple linear regression was used to determine associations between the examined factors and both sets of misinformation.Results: We discovered that BM-C and BM-U were moderately correlated (Spearman ρ=0.57; P&lt;.001). Furthermore, increased trust in Russia and decreased trust in the local government, public media, and Western allies of the Czech Republic predicted both BM-C and BM-U. Media use indicating frustration with and avoidance of public or mainstream media, consumption of alternative information sources, and participation in web-based discussions indicative of epistemic bubbles predicted beliefs in misinformation narratives. COVID-19 vaccine refusal predicted only BM-C but not BM-U. However, vaccine refusers were overrepresented in the BM-U supporters (64/161, 39.8%) and undecided (128/505, 25.3%) individuals. Both beliefs were associated with belief rigidity.Conclusions: Our study provides empirical evidence that supporters of COVID-19 misinformation were susceptible to ideological misinformation aligning with Russian propaganda. Supporters of both sets of misinformation narratives were primarily linked by their shared trust or distrust in the same geopolitical actors and their distrust in the local government.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

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OECD FORD branch

50401 - Sociology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

JMIR Infodemiology

ISSN

2564-1891

e-ISSN

2564-1891

Volume of the periodical

5

Issue of the periodical within the volume

"e62913"

Country of publishing house

CA - CANADA

Number of pages

15

Pages from-to

1-15

UT code for WoS article

001446985700001

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105001405530