WhatsApp in India During the COVID-19 Pandemic

June 8, 2021 updated by: Yale-NUS College

Characterising the Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation Through WhatsApp in India

Digital misinformation has been flagged as a major risk of the 21st century, with an estimated cost of $78 billion to the global economy each year. Given this scope, we propose to characterize how misinformation is spread via messenger platforms (e.g. WhatsApp).

Specifically, we seek to:

  1. Identify metrics of potential misinformation (Aim 1). This is based on the hypothesis that although message contents are highly private, proxy markers can be used to identify potential misinformation.
  2. Understand the base-rate by which misinformation is shared via messaging applications (Aim 2). This is founded on the hypothesis that misinformation is endemic on messaging platforms, and thus needs to be documented.
  3. Identify "super spreaders" responsible for sending and receiving a large volume of misinformation (Aim 3). Here, we hypothesise that a small group of super spreaders are responsible for the bulk of misinformation-sharing on messaging applications.

The thrust of this work aligns with both government priorities and the grant's thematic areas, providing actionable findings that are timely amidst a worldwide surge of misinformation.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Anticipated)

1000

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

21 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

A community sample of the 1000 people from the Indian population

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Lived in India for more than 2 years,
  • Currently Living in India
  • Owns a WhatsApp account

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Not currently living in India
  • Below the ages of 21
  • Has not lived in India for more than 2 years
  • does not own a WhatsApp account
  • Does not speak English or Hindi

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Cohort
  • Time Perspectives: Cross-Sectional

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Community Sample
We plan to recruit a community sample of 1000 from the Indian Population.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
WhatsApp Usage
Time Frame: 1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion
Participants were asked a series of questions daily related to their WhatsApp usage behaviors - in particular, their message-forwarding, personal chat and group chat behaviors.
1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion
Changes in fear with regards the COVID-19 situation across 1 week
Time Frame: 1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion
1 item each day on fear specifically of the COVID-19 situation (measured on a 4 point scale: min = 1, max = 4; higher scores indicating greater fear about the outbreak).
1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion
Changes in amount of thinking about the COVID-19 situation across 1 week
Time Frame: 1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion
1 item each day on how much they thought about the outbreak that day (measured on a 5 point scale: min = 1, max = 5; higher scores indicating more thinking about the outbreak).
1 week, starting from date after baseline survey completion

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Yale-NUS College

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

May 21, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

December 31, 2021

Study Completion (Anticipated)

December 31, 2021

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 8, 2021

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 8, 2021

First Posted (Actual)

June 9, 2021

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 9, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 8, 2021

Last Verified

June 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2020-CERC-001C

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

IPD Plan Description

Due to stipulations by the institutional review board, data can not be shared

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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