Populism and disinformation in the era of Covid-19

An empirical study on social media and infodemia

Abstract

Based on the centrality that the media occupy in the context of the pandemic of COVID-19, this article assesses the association between political attitudes of populism and the media choices made by individuals to learn about the new coronavirus. More specifically, it questions whether individuals with populist attitudes seek information in different media and spaces than those chosen by other individuals. In a scenario called infodemia, is the acceptance of misinformation associated with the choice of sources? It starts from a literature review and a conceptual design organized in three moments: it analyzes the concept of populism and the elements that define it; relates populism to the media and social media platforms; concludes by associating these platforms with new threats, resulting from the quality of information. Based on a questionnaire applied to 244 individuals in the beginning of the state of emergency motivated by the pandemic COVID-19, the article suggests a positive and significant association between populist attitudes, information on social networks and acceptance of disinformation.