THE public has been overwhelmed by a surge in misleading and false information during the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organisation has decried this “infodemic”, which can lead to mistrust in health authorities and undermine the public health response.
People often do not know which information to trust, making them vulnerable to disinformation.
New research suggests that South Africans are more likely to trust scientific sources, such as doctors and the World Health Organisation, than their own government. Most disapprove of the government’s handling of the pandemic.
These are the findings of an online survey we conducted to find out where people were getting their information about COVID-19 from and which sources they trusted most. We also conducted a small experiment to test people’s views on vaccinations. Both were done online, which means that the views represent only those South Africans with access to the web.
Our study, conducted with
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