![]() ![]() Reddit's affordances make it possible to answer questions on whether aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic are ideologically politicized in ways that might not be possible otherwise. As we note earlier, because of its popularity-that is, 52 million daily active users ( Proferes et al., 2021)-and impact on real world events, Reddit is worth studying in its own right. ![]() Our findings should be understood incorporating that context. The Reddit user base is mostly young (58% in the 18–34 years range), male (57%), and resides in the USA (plurality of 49%) ( Proferes et al., 2021 Statista, 2021). Our study is based on Reddit data thus, it is useful to point out some attendant limitations of Reddit that have a bearing on the interpretation of our findings. Given the amplifying effect of social media on infodemics, it is important to examine the credibility of information shared on Reddit when users discuss COVID-19. The phenomenon of health misinformation has been dubbed the infodemic and has been highlighted by the World Health Organization as posing serious threats to public health ( Zarocostas, 2020). Reddit has been implicated in spreading misinformation in the past ( Au et al., 2020 Tasnim et al., 2020). Thus, the value of credible information concerning public health measures for COVID-19 prevention cannot be emphasized enough. The problem of misinformation is serious enough to influence the outcomes of national elections ( Allcott and Gentzkow, 2017), but when it affects public health, misinformation can have life and death implications ( Baum, 2011). are conservatives and liberals getting their COVID-19-related news from the same sources?).Ĭoncerns with spread of misinformation, especially through social media platforms, have accompanied the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that there is no editorial process and individuals are free to post news articles that conform to their ideological biases on Reddit, it is worthwhile to explore whether information sharing regarding COVID-19 on Reddit reflects political polarization (i.e. There are political subreddits devoted to ideologies such as conservatism, libertarianism, liberalism, and socialism ( Centivany and Glushko, 2016). The website is a collection of independently moderated subcommunities-known as subreddits-organized around shared interests by subscribers. ![]() Underscoring Reddit's importance in academic research, a recent review found more than 700 studies leveraging data sets from Reddit over the 2010–2020 period (i.e. Reddit is the fifth most visited website in the USA with over 400 million unique monthly visitors 1. ![]() While it is well-understood that such new media democratize access to information thus mollifying the gatekeeping effect of legacy media ( Andersen et al., 2016), these media make it easy for users to customize their media diets, potentially increasing political polarization ( Young and Anderson, 2017). Increasingly, Americans get their news from new media such as Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter, which have been implicated in intensifying political polarization ( Pew Research Center, 2019). Liberal subreddits share and discuss articles from more credible news sources than conservative subreddits, and conservative subreddits are more likely than liberal subreddits to share articles from sites flagged for publishing COVID-19 misinformation. There are also significant differences between liberal and conservative subreddits in their preferences for news sources. Our results show polarization in topics of discussion: the Trump, White House, and economic relief topics are statistically more prominent in liberal subreddits, and China and deaths topics are more prominent in conservative subreddits. We also examine whether there are systematic differences in the credibility of sources shared by the subscribers of subreddits that vary by ideology, and in the tendency to share information from sources implicated in spreading COVID-19 misinformation. We use data from Reddit to explore the differences in the topics emphasized by different subreddits according to political ideology. In this exploratory study, we examine political polarization regarding the online discussion of the COVID-19 pandemic. ![]()
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