Public Emotions and Rumors Spread During the COVID-19 Epidemic in China: Web-Based Correlation Study

Abstract

Background Various online rumors have led to inappropriate behaviors among the public in response to the COVID-19 epidemic in China. These rumors adversely affect people’s physical and mental health. Therefore, a better understanding of the relationship between public emotions and rumors during the epidemic may help generate useful strategies for guiding public emotions and dispelling rumors. Objective This study aimed to explore whether public emotions are related to the dissemination of online rumors in the context of COVID-19. Methods We used the web-crawling tool Scrapy to gather data published by People’s Daily on Sina Weibo, a popular social media platform in China, after January 8, 2020. Netizens’ comments under each Weibo post were collected. Nearly 1 million comments thus collected were divided into 5 categories: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and neutral, based on the underlying emotional information identified and extracted from the comments by using a manual identification process. Data on rumors spread online were collected through Tencent’s Jiaozhen platform. Time-lagged cross-correlation analyses were performed to examine the relationship between public emotions and rumors. Results Our results indicated that the angrier the public felt, the more rumors there would likely be (r=0.48, P<.001). Similar results were observed for the relationship between fear and rumors (r=0.51, P<.001) and between sadness and rumors (r=0.47, P<.001). Furthermore, we found a positive correlation between happiness and rumors, with happiness lagging the emergence of rumors by 1 day (r=0.56, P<.001). In addition, our data showed a significant positive correlation between fear and fearful rumors (r=0.34, P=.02). Conclusions Our findings confirm that public emotions are related to the rumors spread online in the context of COVID-19 in China. Moreover, these findings provide several suggestions, such as the use of web-based monitoring methods, for relevant authorities and policy makers to guide public emotions and behavior during this public health emergency.

A chain mediation model on COVID-19 symptoms and mental health outcomes in Americans, Asians and Europeans

“…Excessive health information might heighten the perceived impact of the pandemic through cyberchondria that is defined as the unfounded escalation of concerns about COVID-19 symptoms based on a review of search results and literature online 43 . According to the nocebo phenomenon 21 , conflicting health information (e.g., confused face mask policy) 22 , unproven conspiracy theories 44 and rumors 45 also enhanced the negative impact of the pandemic. In contrast, people who were likely to less frequently accessed health information were less anxious, depressed and stressed, and worried about the pandemic 46 .…”

Echo Chamber Effect in Rumor Rebuttal Discussions About COVID-19 in China: Social Media Content and Network Analysis Study

“…The high risk and uncertainty of the emerging infectious disease were likely to cause widespread public concern. Its suddenness and the insufficiency of the official response inevitably caused an information vacuum [ 60 ], which provided a breeding ground for rumors [ 46 , 61 ]. Due to geographical social distancing, rumor resolution mainly relied on online rebuttal.…”

“…Previous research studies on public sentiment during major public health emergencies found that people usually exhibited negative sentiments, such as panic, anxiety, anger, sadness, and disgust [ 44 , 45 ]. After rumors were refuted, public sentiment usually changed from negative to positive [ 46 , 47 ]. However, Zollo et al [ 16 ] found that negative sentiments dominated in the comments on Facebook that refuted conspiracy theories, regardless of users’ polarization.…”

Implementing Public Health Strategies—The Need for Educational Initiatives: A Systematic Review

“…The practical concerns about using apps may also get more complicated with the psychology behind using (or not using) any apps [53][54][55][56][57][58][59]. In a recent publication, Williams et al [53] reported that the participants in their study were not sure whether using digital contact tracing was a good idea.…”

“…In one study, for instance, although the information and technology use kept the participants informed and connected, they experienced negative emotional consequences, including stress, worry, and anxiety, and reported varying degrees of preparedness [54]. In addition, rumors spread may influence public's emotions, increasing their anxiety and anger [55]. Furthermore, isolation and quarantine during the pandemic seem to be associated with interpersonal sensitivity, somatization, and distress, especially symptoms like suspiciousness, hostility, and fearful thoughts of losing autonomy as well as feelings of inadequacy, uneasiness, and discomfort during interpersonal interactions [56].…”