Social Media, Citizens’ Distrust in the Government, and Misinformation During a National Crisis
An Experimental Test of a Covid-19 Case
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21616434 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gwanseob Shin (0000-0002-5449-4590, Kookmin University), Yong-Chan Rhee (0000-0003-2284-7176, DePaul University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Pages | 1-15 |
| Publication date | 2025-12-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Health Communication (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1041-0236 • E-ISSN: 1532-7027 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/10410236.2025.2606898 |
| PMID | 41462030 |
| OpenAlex | W7117539675 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 90 |
This study tests whether misinformation on social media undermines citizens' capability to perceive the factual public health information provided by the government during the pandemic and whether such misinformation impacts citizens' distrust in the government. The results of the survey experiment indicate that the simple presence of misinformation on a social media platform distorts citizens' perceptions of factual pandemic information, while the frequent use of social media shows the opposite but a smaller effect. Also, we find that perceptual distortion due to misinformation does not directly impact citizens' distrust in the government, while political polarization appears to have a larger effect. We discuss the implications of the behavioral and cognitive mechanisms of information distortion and citizens' distrust in the government in an international setting
Distrust · Misinformation · Pandemic · Perception · Public opinion · Social media · Social perception · Media Influence and Politics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media and Politics
Cognitive Load Theory
Coronavirus conspiracy suspicions, general vaccine attitudes, trust and coronavirus information source as predictors of vaccine hesitancy among UK residents during the Covid-19 pandemic
Effectiveness of Covid-19 Vaccines against the B.1.617.2 (Delta) Variant
The Perils of Balance Testing in Experimental Design
The role of social media in local government crisis communications
Association Between Public Knowledge About Covid-19, Trust in Information Sources, and Adherence to Social Distancing
The Police Officer's Dilemma
Social media and vaccine hesitancy
Cognitive-Load Theory
Cognitive Load Theory and Complex Learning
Citizens’ Use of Social Media in Government, Perceived Transparency, and Trust in Government
Misinformation About Covid-19 Vaccines on Social Media
Emergency knowledge management and social media technologies
A Reconsideration of Cognitive Load Theory
Cognitive Load During Problem Solving
Government crisis messaging on social media, citizen online engagement and compliance with policies
Americans’ Trust in Covid-19 Information from Governmental Sources in the Trump Era
Increasing Receptivity to Covid-19 Public Health Messages with Self-Affirmation and Self vs. Other Framing
Impact of Exposure to Health Misinformation on Belief in Health Misinformation
Social Media as Risk-Attenuation and Misinformation-Amplification Station
The Effect of Social Media on Stress among Young Adults during Covid-19 Pandemic
Why DO citizens engage in government social media accounts during Covid-19 pandemic? A comparative study
Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed‐Mode Surveys
Fighting Covid-19 Misinformation on Social Media
A systematic review of public policy implementation during the Covid‐19 pandemic
Perceived Information Distortion about Covid-19 Vaccination and Addictive Social Media Use among Social Media Users in Hong Kong
Political Ideologies, Government Trust, and Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in South Korea
Building Citizen Trust Through E-government
Social media effects on fostering online civic engagement and building citizen trust and trust in institutions
Local e-government 2.0
Linking public sector social media and e-government website use to trust in government
Stakeholder Engagement and Public Information Through Social Media
Gender Representation and Student Performance
Top 10 U.S. Municipal Police Departments and Their Social Media Usage
Crisis Coordination and the Role of Social Media in Response to Covid-19 in Wuhan, China
A cross‐cultural replication of “citizens' blame of politicians for public service failure
A Three‐Stage Adoption Process for Social Media Use in Government
The Limits of Social Media for Public Administration Research and Practice
Pandemic Planning in the United States
Liberté, Égalité, Crédibilité
Toward Participatory and Transparent Governance
Are Icts Improving Transparency and Accountability in the Eu Regional and Local Governments? An Empirical Study
A replication of “Representative bureaucracy and the willingness to coproduce”
Do organizational differences matter for the use of social media by public organizations? A computational analysis of the way the German police use Twitter for external communication
Effects of local government social media use on citizen compliance during a crisis
Political ideology and vaccination willingness
Climbing the 'ladder of intrusiveness
Attention and automaticity in the processing of self-relevant information
Susceptibility to misinformation about Covid-19 vaccines
Impossibility of a “Reverse Racism” Effect
Parties’ policy adjustments in response to changes in issue saliency
What to Believe? Social Media Commentary and Belief in Misinformation
The Politics of Diffusion
The Perceived Fairness of Active Representation
Regulatory Issue Networks in a Federal System
Like, Post, and Distrust? How Social Media Use Affects Trust in Government
The Conditioning Effects of Policy Salience and Complexity on American Political Institutions
What Was the Problem in Parkland? Using Social Media to Measure the Effectiveness of Issue Frames
Representative Bureaucracy, Race, and Policing
Governance in the Age of Digital Media and Branding
Salience and Complexity in Supranational Policymaking
Fueling conspiracy beliefs
The Effect of Task Complexity and Sequence on Rule Learning and Problem Solving
The restless mind
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |