PRELIMINARY REPORT: MOST COMMON INTERACTED- WITH ACTORS ON "FACEBOOK" REPORTING ON THE VACCINATION PROCESS
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
LITHUANIAN SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYSIS OF NARRATIVES RELATED TO THE VACCINATION PROCESS AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG THE LITHUANIAN SOCIETY PRELIMINARY REPORT: MOST COMMON INTERACTED- WITH ACTORS ON “FACEBOOK” REPORTING ON THE VACCINATION PROCESS Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has created a perfect setting for spreading malign and deliberate misinformation, disinformation, and propaganda from various hostile actors. Public trust in state institutions and the government is low – research done by the EESC in 2020 shows that only 24% of the Lithuanian population trust the parliament, 43% trust the government of Lithuania, and only 8% – the political parties. The vaccination process is especially fragile and sensitive to any external or internal meddling. These factors suggest that Lithuania could be potentially targeted by various disinformation and propaganda campaigns to lower the Lith- uanian population’s motivation and trust in the vaccination process. One of the main sources of information for Lithuanians is social media; as information on such platforms can spread rapidly and there is little oversight, this research ex- plores the potential for manipulating public opinion.
PRELIMINARY REPORT: MOST COMMON INTERACTED-WITH ACTORS
ON “FACEBOOK” REPORTING ON THE VACCINATION PROCESS 2
Research and methodology AstraZeneca, Vaxzevria, Zeneca, Zeneka, “AZ
vakcina”, CanSino, Convidecia, Ad5-nCoV, Co-
The research is being conducted using the vaxin, BBV152, “Bharat Biotech”, CureVac,
Pulsar and CrowdTangle tools, which analyse CVnCoV, Johnson&Johnson, Janssen, Moder-
and monitor social network trends by using na, mRNA-1273, Modernos, Moderną, Pfizer,
selected keywords. The research period was BioNTech, BioNTech-Pfizer, BNT162, Comir-
selected from January 1 to July 1, 2021, in naty, Pfizerio, Pfizeris, Sinopharm, Vero, Sino-
order to objectively analyse long-term dynam- pharm-vakcina, Sinovac, CoronaVac, SputnikV,
ics and trends in the Lithuanian social media Sputnik, sputnikas, sputniko, sputniku, sput-
sphere. The first report focuses on the ten niką, vakcina, astrutė, “galibybių pasas”, “avių
most interacted-with actors on Facebook who pasas”, “avinų pasas”, kovidas, covidas, kovid-
were reporting on COVID-19 vaccination pro- iotai, covidiotai, covidiotas, “Galimybių pasas”,
cesses in Lithuania. “kovido pasas”.
This report was done using the CrowdTangle
tool, and the data set was narrowed using the
main (see Keywords used) keywords. The key- Findings:
words were selected in order to ensure their This report presents the top 10 most inter-
relevance to the topic of the vaccination pro- acted-with profiles on Facebook; information
cess in Lithuania. Additionally, this strict se- includes: their ties to the government, owner-
lection of keywords prevented “noise” from the ship, anomalies with interactions, page/post
selected data set, as they are specifically tied “likes”, etc. These profiles were compiled by
to the vaccination process and are typically searching for the above-mentioned keywords
not used in any other posts outside the COV- in public posts.
ID-19 context.
1. Lrytas.lt – privately owned media outlet of
This initial report includes the top most inter- Lithuanian origin. One of the oldest contin-
acted profiles – a short description of the pro- uously running newspapers in Lithuania. In-
file (major stakeholder; if applicable – bias;), teraction rate and page followers correlate.
whether the profile supports the vaccination Total posts – 487; Interaction rate – 0.07%;
process, total post count, post interaction per- Verified profile;
centage, correlation between interaction rate 2. LRT.lt – state-sponsored media outlet. Lith-
and page followers, profile verification by Face- uanian legal code ensures independence
book administrators. and autonomy from any political party or
The research focused on the Total Interactions movement. Recently have been accused
variable. Different variables would possibly pro- of left-leaning bias by various right-wing
duce different results as there would be a differ- groups; strongly supports governmental
ent sequence of top Facebook profiles. It is un- vaccination programmes and processes. In-
certain how that would impact other variables. teraction rate and page followers correlate.
Total posts – 505; Interaction rate – 0.08%;
Keywords used – names of the most common Verified profile;
vaccines in Lithuanian and English; variations
of “covid” in Lithuanian and English, variations DELFI.lt – privately owned media outlet, parent
of “opportunity passport” in Lithuanian and company is the Estonian group AS Ekspress
English: Group. Curates various myth and disinforma-
tion busting programmes. Publishes variousPRELIMINARY REPORT: MOST COMMON INTERACTED-WITH ACTORS
ON “FACEBOOK” REPORTING ON THE VACCINATION PROCESS 3
(including right and left leaning authors) opin- 5. Ciniškas Chirurgas – Facebook public profile
ion pieces. Supports governmental vaccina- owned by a private individual/individuals.
tions programmes and processes. Interaction Strongly advocates vaccination processes.
rate and page followers correlate. Total posts – Interaction rate and page followers do not
519; Interaction rate – 0.04%; Verified profile; correlate. Total posts – 9; Interaction rate –
9.42%; NOT Verified profile; Anomalies ob-
1. 15min.lt – privately owned media outlet,
served – low number of posts with keywords,
parent company is the Estonian group MM
substantial number of page followers.
Group. Curates a fact-checking initiative.
6. Kas Vyksta Kaune – privately owned me-
Recently accused of left-leaning bias by
dia company focused on local Kaunas city
various right-wing groups. Supports govern-
news. Most often reports news regarding
mental vaccination programmes and pro-
vaccination processes; advocates for vac-
cesses. Interaction rate and page followers
cination. Interaction rate and page follow-
correlate. Total posts – 536; Interaction
ers do not correlate. Total posts – 92; In-
rate – 0.03%; Verified profile;
teraction rate – 0.15%; NOT Verified profile;
2. TV3 Televizija – privately owned media out-
Anomalies observed – low number of posts,
let, parent company is the Lithuanian group
substantial number of page followers.
All Media Baltics. Interaction rate and page
7. Respublika.lt – privately owned media
followers correlate. Total posts – 462 Inter-
company of Lithuanian origin. Most often
action rate – 0.04%; Verified profile;
reports critically on governmental actions,
3. Lietuvos Respublikos Sveikatos Apsaugos
slightly suspicious of the vaccination pro-
Ministerija – Ministry of Health of the Repub-
cess in Lithuania. Interaction rate and page
lic of Lithuania, a core institution responsible
followers do not correlate. Total posts – 83;
for the implementation of the vaccination
Interaction rate – 0.58%; NOT Verified pro-
process in Lithuania. Provides information
file; Anomalies observed – low number of
about vaccines. Interaction rate and page
posts with keywords, substantial number of
follower’s correlate. Total posts – 178 Inter-
page followers.
action rate – 0.35%; Verified profile;
4. Sputnik Lietuva: Baltijos Naujienos – Rus-
sian state-sponsored media outlet, desig-
nated by Lithuanian and other NATO/EU
governments as spreading propaganda or
being a “Russian perspective” tool. Numbers
indicate aggressive and active attempts
to disrupt public opinion. Interaction rate
and page followers do not correlate. Total
posts – 6,171; Interaction rate – 0.2%; NOT
Verified profile; Anomalies observed – low
number of page followers; disproportionate
number of interactions, page followers and
total posts.PRELIMINARY REPORT: MOST COMMON INTERACTED-WITH ACTORS ON “FACEBOOK” REPORTING ON THE VACCINATION PROCESS 4 Conclusions The first six Facebook profiles did not include rative about vaccinations; the other three pro- any anomalies – interaction rates, page fol- files included anomalies partly related to the lowers and post number correlate. The first specific set of keywords (this could be solved five Facebook profile are mainstream media using a different/bigger set of keywords) and in Lithuania (lrytas, DELFI, 15min and TV3 through the use of different variables (e.g. fo- Televizija are privately owned, LRT is state cusing on total posts or page followers). This media). The sixth profile belongs to the Lith- report concludes, that from the top 10 most uanian Ministry of Health, which strongly interacted with profiles, one profile is directly supports and proactively informs about the financed and managed by Russian Federation vaccination process. The next four (Sputnik Li- and most often spreads critical, negative, or etuva, Ciniškas Chirurgas, Kas Vyksta Kaune, outright disinformation messages using the Respublika.lt) profiles did include anomalies – Sputnik Lietuva profile. Sputnik has been aggressively pushing its nar-
PRELIMINARY REPORT: MOST COMMON INTERACTED-WITH ACTORS ON “FACEBOOK” REPORTING ON THE VACCINATION PROCESS 5 Recommendations: Using a broader set of keywords (connected to vaccination process) Use of different variables (e.g. total posts or page followers). This would allow to check if total inter- actions would correlate with other variables. Analysing the context and posts to find underlying messages e.g., negative, positive, neutral/inform- ative use of emotions. This analysis will be conducted in the next reports. Closer look at profiles using languages of ethnic minorities in Lithuania. This would help to identify narratives that are more common in non-Lithuanian speaking circles. Chart represent anomalies e.g. Sputnik – insignificant number of Page Likes, significant number of interactions.
You can also read
