The bias of Twitter as an agenda-setter on COVID-19: An empirical research using log data and survey data in Japan

Abstract

This study investigates the bias of Twitter as an agenda-setter during COVID-19. Specifically, we analyze the agenda-setting function of Twitter (Study 1) and characteristics of information disseminators on Twitter, agenda-builders (Study 2), related to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Study 1, we examined rank correlations between the media agendas on COVID-19 and public agendas. The results indicated that Twitter agendas resonate with those who have liberal tendencies. In Study 2, we used data from the Internet survey to identify the political attitudes of agenda-builders who tweet or retweet on COVID-19. The results of the model analyses indicated that people with liberal tendencies, motivated by their political attitude, created original tweets, and some of those tweets were then retweeted by flaming-oriented people driven by a sense of justice. This seems to be how information about COVID-19 spreads on Twitter in Japan.