![]() ![]() How does a subreddit's expressed or implied political ideology/bias influence the COVID-19-related misinformation shared by its subscribers?Social media platforms like Reddit play an increasingly important role in disseminating information on health and pandemics ( Baum, 2011). are conservatives and liberals getting their COVID-19-related news from the same sources?). Given that there is no editorial process and individuals are free to post news articles that conform to their ideological biases on Reddit, it is worthwhile to explore whether information sharing regarding COVID-19 on Reddit reflects political polarization (i.e. There are political subreddits devoted to ideologies such as conservatism, libertarianism, liberalism, and socialism ( Centivany and Glushko, 2016). The website is a collection of independently moderated subcommunities-known as subreddits-organized around shared interests by subscribers. Underscoring Reddit's importance in academic research, a recent review found more than 700 studies leveraging data sets from Reddit over the 2010–2020 period (i.e. Reddit is the fifth most visited website in the USA with over 400 million unique monthly visitors 1. While it is well-understood that such new media democratize access to information thus mollifying the gatekeeping effect of legacy media ( Andersen et al., 2016), these media make it easy for users to customize their media diets, potentially increasing political polarization ( Young and Anderson, 2017). Increasingly, Americans get their news from new media such as Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter, which have been implicated in intensifying political polarization ( Pew Research Center, 2019). Liberal subreddits share and discuss articles from more credible news sources than conservative subreddits, and conservative subreddits are more likely than liberal subreddits to share articles from sites flagged for publishing COVID-19 misinformation. There are also significant differences between liberal and conservative subreddits in their preferences for news sources. Our results show polarization in topics of discussion: the Trump, White House, and economic relief topics are statistically more prominent in liberal subreddits, and China and deaths topics are more prominent in conservative subreddits. ![]() ![]() We also examine whether there are systematic differences in the credibility of sources shared by the subscribers of subreddits that vary by ideology, and in the tendency to share information from sources implicated in spreading COVID-19 misinformation. We use data from Reddit to explore the differences in the topics emphasized by different subreddits according to political ideology. In this exploratory study, we examine political polarization regarding the online discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic. All subjects Allied Health Cardiology & Cardiovascular Medicine Dentistry Emergency Medicine & Critical Care Endocrinology & Metabolism Environmental Science General Medicine Geriatrics Infectious Diseases Medico-legal Neurology Nursing Nutrition Obstetrics & Gynecology Oncology Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine Otolaryngology Palliative Medicine & Chronic Care Pediatrics Pharmacology & Toxicology Psychiatry & Psychology Public Health Pulmonary & Respiratory Medicine Radiology Research Methods & Evaluation Rheumatology Surgery Tropical Medicine Veterinary Medicine Cell Biology Clinical Biochemistry Environmental Science Life Sciences Neuroscience Pharmacology & Toxicology Biomedical Engineering Engineering & Computing Environmental Engineering Materials Science Anthropology & Archaeology Communication & Media Studies Criminology & Criminal Justice Cultural Studies Economics & Development Education Environmental Studies Ethnic Studies Family Studies Gender Studies Geography Gerontology & Aging Group Studies History Information Science Interpersonal Violence Language & Linguistics Law Management & Organization Studies Marketing & Hospitality Music Peace Studies & Conflict Resolution Philosophy Politics & International Relations Psychoanalysis Psychology & Counseling Public Administration Regional Studies Religion Research Methods & Evaluation Science & Society Studies Social Work & Social Policy Sociology Special Education Urban Studies & Planning BROWSE JOURNALS ![]()
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