JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Misinformation on social media during natural disasters has become a significant challenge, with the potential to increase public confusion, panic, and distrust. Although individuals rely on social media platforms for timely updates during crises, these platforms also facilitate the rapid spread of unverified and misleading information. Consequently, misinformation can hamper emergency response efforts, misdirect resources, and distort public perception of the disaster’s true severity.

Objective:

This narrative review aims to 1) Critically evaluate the available evidence, 2) Unpack the dynamics of misinformation on social media in the context of natural disasters, specifically natural hazards, shedding light on the challenges, implications, and potential solutions and 3) Develop a conceptual model linking misinformation, public impact and disasters, grounded in sourced evidence.

Methods:

The narrative review examines the influence of social media misinformation in the context of natural disasters. The literature search was conducted using the PubMed database and Google Scholar in April 2024. Studies eligible for inclusion were published in English, with no restrictions on publication date, geographic region or target population. The inclusion criteria focused on original research that examined social media misinformation related to natural disasters, specifically natural hazards.

Results:

From an initial pool of 173 articles, nine studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. The selected studies revealed consistent patterns in how misinformation spreads during natural disasters, highlighting the role of users, some influencers and bots in amplified false narratives. These misleading messages often outpace official communications across social media platforms. This led to a lack of trust in official communications and increased anxiety, stress, and fear among affected populations. Such heightened emotional responses and erosion of trust in official communications influenced individual’s susceptibility to the misinformation and their behaviour and prompting inappropriate actions. These actions resulted in a misallocation of resources, overwhelming emergency services and diverting attention from genuine needs. These factors degrade public health outcomes and emergency management effectiveness, as illustrated by the conceptual model, which was developed as a framework to provide a greater understanding of this critical area of study.

Conclusions:

This narrative review highlights the significant impact of misinformation in the context of natural disasters, specifically natural hazards, emphasising its ability to disrupt public health, disaster resilience, and emergency response systems. The review stresses the urgent need for disaster preparedness and response plans which includes targeted interventions such as real-time detection technologies, public education campaigns emphasising digital literacy, and proactive debunking efforts. By adopting these strategies, the harmful effects of misinformation will be mitigated, promote public trust in official communications, and improve the overall effectiveness of disaster response and public health outcomes.