Queensland COVID-19 research

This page of Queensland’s research related to the COVID-19 pandemic is compiled from information provided by Queensland universities and research institutes.

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• ‘Corona? 5G? Or Both?’: The Dynamics of COVID-19/5G Conspiracy Theories on Facebook May 2021

  Focussing in detail on one key component of the infodemic surrounding COVID-19, this research traces the dissemination dynamics of rumours that the pandemic outbreak was somehow related to the rollout of 5G mobile telephony technology in Wuhan and around the world. Drawing on a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods including time-series analysis, network analysis and in-depth close reading, our analysis shows the dissemination of the rumour on Facebook from its obscure origins in pre-existing conspiracist groups through greater uptake in more diverse communities to substantial amplification by celebrities, sports stars and media outlets. The indepth tracing of COVID-related mis- and disinformation across social networks offers important new insights into the dynamics of online information dissemination and points to opportunities to slow and stop the spread of false information, or at least to combat it more directly with accurate counterinformation.

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Digital Media Research Centre
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Prof Axel Bruns
  Program Leader - Digital Publics
  a.bruns@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 5548

  Collaborations

  • Co-researchers:
  • Associate Prof Stephen Harrington
  • Dr Edward Hurcombe

• COVID-19 a perfect storm for conspiracy theories May 2021

  Researchers from QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre have taken a deep dive into their world to trace wild rumours on social media claiming the coronavirus was caused by 5G technology. They found what was once being preached to the already converted was quickly fanned further afield by social media and celebrities spreading the message.

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Digital Media Research Centre
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Prof Axel Bruns
  Program Leader - Digital Publics
  a.bruns@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 5548

  Collaborations

  • Co-researchers:
  • Associate Prof Stephen Harrington
  • Dr Edward Hurcombe
  • Collaborators:
  • Monash University (Melbourne)
  • Syracuse University (USA)
  • Cardiff University (UK)

• First 100 days of COVID-19 - Australian Twitter users’ concerns mapped May 2021

  Twitter users were well ahead of the Federal Government in calling for shutdown of large sporting events, mass gatherings and schools. According to analysis of the 2.8 million tweets mentioning coronavirus during the first 100 days of COVID-19 on the Australian Twittersphere undertaken by team led by A/Prof. Daniel Angus from the Institute for Future Environments’s Digital Observatory, Twitter users turned to medical experts for information while governments discussed measures. “In early to mid-March Twitter users began putting pressure on the federal and state ministers to shut down non-essential gatherings with tweets containing #coronavirus, the leading hashtag followed by #covid19, and the third most common hashtag at this time was #auspol, long used for political discussion” A/Prof Angus said. A/Prof Angus continued “When the story of this pandemic is written historians will have an unprecedented amount of as-it-happened data from social media.”

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  A/Prof Daniel Angus
  Associate Professor in Digital Communication
  daniel.angus@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 8160

  Collaborations

  Collaborators: Visualisation and eResearch

• Like a Virus: The Coordinated Spread of Coronavirus Disinformation June 2020

  This report for the Centre for Responsible Technology at the Australia Institute by Dr Timothy Graham and co-researcher at the QUT Digital Media Research Centre presents analysis of over 25.5 million tweets over 10 days identifies 5,752 accounts that coordinated 6,559 times to spread mis- and disinformation regarding the coronavirus for either commercial or political purposes. Almost all politically motivated activity promoted right wing governments or parties. Coordinated spreading of the China bioweapon conspiracy theory is estimated to have made over 5 million impressions on Twitter users, spread by mainly pro-Trump, partisan conservative and/or QAnon accounts.

  #Data science#Social media

  Centre

  Digital Media Research Centre
  Queensland University of Technology

  Contact details

  Dr Timothy Graham
  Senior Lecturer
  timothy.graham@qut.edu.au
  +61 7 3138 8187

  Collaborations

  • Co-researchers:
  •  Prof. Axel Bruns
  • Guangnam Zhu - Digital Media Research Centre
  • Rod Campbell - The Australia Institute