WhatsApp in India During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Covid19 Clinical Trial

Official title:

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

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Recruiting

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT04918849
• Other study ID #: 2020-CERC-001C
• Status: Recruiting
• Start date: May 21, 2021
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: June 2021
• Source: Yale-NUS College
• Contact: Jean Liu, PhD
• Phone: 66013694
• Email: jeanliu[@]yale-nus.edu.sg
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Observational

Clinical Trial Summary

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Recruiting
• Enrollment: 1000
• Est. completion date: December 31, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: December 31, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 21 Years and older

Eligibility

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

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Covid19

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Singapore	Yale-NUS College	Singapore

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Yale-NUS College

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Singapore, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	WhatsApp Usage	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
Primary	Changes in fear with regards the COVID-19 situation across 1 week	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
Primary	Changes in amount of thinking about the COVID-19 situation across 1 week	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