JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Misinformation on social media during disasters has become a significant challenge, with the potential to increase public confusion, panic, and distrust. During crises, individuals rely on social media platforms for timely updates, however these platforms also facilitate the rapid spread of unverified and misleading information. Such misinformation can hamper emergency response efforts, misdirect resources, and distort public perception of disaster 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 disasters, specifically natural hazards, shedding light on the challenges, implications, and potential solutions, and 3) Develop a conceptual model linking misinformation, public health and disasters, grounded in sourced evidence.

Methods:

The narrative review examines the influence of social media misinformation in the context of disasters. The literature search was conducted using the PubMed database and Google Scholar 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 explicitly examined social media misinformation related to disasters, specifically natural hazards.

Results:

From an initial pool of 140 articles, nine studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. These selected studies revealed consistent patterns in the spread of misinformation by users, some influencers and bots amplified false narratives, often outpacing official communications, during disasters across social media platforms. This caused a lack of trust in official communications and increased anxiety, stress, and fear among affected populations. The heightened emotional responses and erosion of trust in official communications influenced individual’s susceptibility to the misinformation and their behaviour, leading to inappropriate actions. This produced a misallocation of resources, overwhelming emergency services and diverting attention from actual 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:

The narrative review highlights the significant impact of misinformation in the context of 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 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.