Inoculating against COVID-19 conspiracies via an Instagram Filter: A cross-cultural study in the UK and the US

Brittany Shivers (PhD Student), Luke Norris, Sung In Choi (PhD Candidate), and Santosh Vijaykumar. “Inoculating against COVID-19 conspiracies via an Instagram Filter: A cross-cultural study in the UK and the US.’” Accepted for presentation at the 18th biennial Kentucky Conference on Health Communication (KCHC), April 4-6, 2024, Lexington, KY.

Abstract: This study proposes an innovative inoculation format via an Instagram filter game, in which users wear an augmented reality tin foil hat and create imaginary internet chaos via their choices in the game. The filter is based on the COVID-19 misinformation inoculation game Go Viral!, which will be tested with a 2 (Inoculation Condition: Passive vs. Active) x 2 (Humor Condition: Humorous vs. Serious) x 2 (Disclosure Condition: Ad Disclosure vs. No Disclosure) between-subjects experimental design. The objective of this study is to investigate what types of inoculation are most effective at 1) reducing people’s trust in COVID-19 conspiracies, 2) increasing people’s ability and confidence in spotting them, and 3) reducing people’s intent to share them on Instagram across different cultural boundaries.