(Mis)perceptions and engagement on Twitter: COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy and mass immunization effort

This paper reports the findings of a 606-participant study analyzing perception of, and engagement with, COVID-19 vaccine rumors on efficacy mass immunization effort Twitter. Misperceptions were successfully induced through simple content alterations addition popular anti-COVID-19 hashtags such as #COVIDIOT #covidhoax to otherwise valid Twitter content. Twitter's soft moderation warning label helped majority our participants dismiss about immunization. However, for skeptic, vaccine-hesitant minority, caused “backfire effect” i.e., make them perceive rumor accurate. While staunchly refrain from engaging with rumors, hesitant skeptic minority was open comment, retweet, like share rumors. Based these findings, we recommend misinformation designs prevent