Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the flow of misinformation that appeared in the mass media and especially on social media and was defined as “Infodemic” by the World Health Organization (WHO). In this study, the relationship between the level at which 1.319 social media users in Turkey have been exposed to misinformation during the COVID-19 process, and their views on which sources spread suspicious and misinformation the most and the level of trust in institutions during the pandemic process were investigated. Participants followed developments in the pandemic on social media; 61% were exposed to false information about COVID-19 every day, and most encountered suspicious information on Facebook and Twitter. Social media users who participated in the study found that the institutions they least trusted were the World Health Organization (WHO), pharmaceutical companies, political opposition of Turkey, and traditional media.
TopInstutional Trust Perception And Pandemic Process
Looking at the definitions made about the concept of trust, it seems that some of the definitions focus on expectation on the other side and some on the desire to remain vulnerable to the other side (Kalemci Tüzün, 2007) It is defined as confidence, sense of involvement, and trust without fear and doubt (Aslan, 2016).
Institutional trust is defined as the trust that individuals have in political, social and economic institutions and the system. Preliminary determinants of trust are expressed as knowledge and institution-based trust, account, cognitive and personality-based trust. Knowledge-based trust is built on the predictability of the other: “Knowing the other adequately and being able to predict their behavior”. In this context, the knowledge-based trust relationship is not about threat or fear, but about the relationship based on the knowledge that the sides have about each other (Kalemci Tüzün, 2007).
Lack of knowledge about people, institutions and events makes it difficult to recognize and makes it difficult to create a sense of trust. The Covid-19 pandemic originated in obscurity. The world was forced to meet this major outbreak, which occurred almost a hundred years after the Spanish flu, but problems in the production and access of scientific knowledge to humans have made it difficult to know the virus and its effects.
Individuals' sense of confidence that their lives are under their control has been undermined and the environment of uncertainty has increased threat perception and anxiety (Doğan & Düzel, 2020). In this context, the pandemic exists as a major crisis that shakes the social and economic order as well as the sense of trust in institutions, causing uncertainty, fear, anxiety (Bozkurt, Zeybek, & Aşkın, 2020). Uncertainty about disease and virus also reduces confidence in science (Kreps & Kriner, 2020).
Trust in government institutions is a distinct indicator of social trust. However, mostly cross-sectional analyses provide limited causal evidence regarding the relationship between institutional trust and social trust. In contrast to the cultural approach, which claims that social trust is a deep foundation, some studies reveal the possibility of social trust changing. Time and experiences that shape trust in government institutions play an important role in this change. It is inevitable that problems in the management of institutions will undermine not only those who govern, but also trust in institutions (Sønderskov & Dinesen, 2016).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Pandemic: It is a term used for epidemics that spread in more than one country or continent around the world and affect a very wide area.
Disinformation: Disinformation is false or misleading information that is spread deliberately to deceive. Disinformation in new media include deceptive advertising, propaganda, fake news, fake websites/accounts imitiating one person or news organization.
COVID-19: COVID-19 is the disease caused by a new coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. WHO first learned of this new virus on 31 December 2019, following a report of a cluster of cases of ‘viral pneumonia’ in Wuhan, People’s Republic of China.
Social media: Social media are interactive digitally mediated technologies that facilitate the creation or sharing of information ve ideas of expression via and networks.
Misinformation: False information that is spread, regardless of whether there is intent to mislead.
Infodemic: The term of infodemic is explained as the vast accumulation of knowledge that occurs during a pandemic, some of which are true and some of which are false, spread as quickly as the virus, and complicate the health organization.
Trust: It is defined as confidence, sense of involvement and trust without fear and doubt.
Fake News: Fake news is false or misleading content that is similar in structure to news and is usually prepared to deceive people on internet and social media.