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arXiv · 2010.10113

Is this pofma? Analysing public opinion and misinformation in a COVID-19 Telegram group chat

Lynnette Hui Xian Ng·Loke Jia Yuan
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Abstract

We analyse a Singapore-based COVID-19 Telegram group with more than 10,000 participants. First, we study the group's opinion over time, focusing on four dimensions: participation, sentiment, topics, and psychological features. We find that engagement peaked when the Ministry of Health raised the disease alert level, but this engagement was not sustained. Second, we search for government-identified misinformation in the group. We find that government-identified misinformation is rare, and that messages discussing these pieces of misinformation express skepticism.

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Lynnette Hui Xian Ng, Loke Jia Yuan. 2020-10-20. Is this pofma? Analysing public opinion and misinformation in a COVID-19 Telegram group chat. https://doi.org/10.36190/2020.12

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