Perceptions of disinformation, media coverage and government policy related to the Coronavirus – survey findings from six Western countries

Abstract

How do citizens evaluate the role of the press and governments during this unseen crisis and how concerned are they about false information? In this report we discuss perceptions of governments’ dealing, media coverage and concern about disinformation across six Western democracies. Further-more, we present current findings on the willingness of individuals to spread disinformation on social media concerning COVID-19. To investigate this, we conducted a large scale survey with active social media users in Belgium, Germany, France, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the United States over a period of three weeks (April 16 to May 6 2020, N = 7.0141). During these three weeks, almost all six countries were still under strict country-specific containment measures (“lockdowns”) to prevent the rapid spread of the coronavirus (European Commission 2020; Matrajt & Leung 2020). In this report we present some first findings.