Coronavirus News and Information on YouTube: A Content Analysis of Popular Search Terms

Online Supplement

Nahema Marchal, Hubert Au, Philip N. Howard

Data and Method

In this memo, we investigate the type of information users come across when searching for information about the coronavirus on YouTube. We first collected a list of the 10 most frequent YouTube search terms related to the “coronavirus” UK over the last 90 days, using Google Trends on March 10th, 2020. For comparison, we also collected the auto-complete YouTube search suggestions for the term “coronavirus”, using a Google Chrome browser in Incognito Mode.

Table 1. Top YouTube Searches related to the term “coronavirus”

Top YouTube Searches related to the term “coronavirus” UK coronavirus ; uk coronavirus; coronavirus news; coronavirus (top 10) live; coronavirus in uk; coronavirus conspiracy; simpsons coronavirus; corona virus; coronavirus wuhan; coronavirus symptoms Note: Compiled based on Google Trends results collected 10/03/2020

Figure 1. Search predictions on YouTube GB in “Incognito Mode”

We carried out the searches by running our list of 4 coronavirus-related search terms through YouTube Data Tools (YTDT)’s Video List function, a tool that directly interacts with the YouTube v3.4 API. This generated a list of the top 50 video results associated with each search term, ranked by relevance (based on YouTube API documentation). We then examined the most “related” or “recommended videos” for these search queries. This returned a network graph where each edge denoted a connection between a seed video and recommended video.

Table. 2 Distribution of channel types, per search query

Types of Search Terms Channel % (N)

UK China Symptoms Conspiracy Combined Independent 13.8 12.5 20 18.8 16.25 Content Creator (11) (10) (16) (15) (52) Government

Professional 1.25 0.3

Health (1) (1) Professional 86.2 86.2 75 72.5 80 News (69) (69) (60) (58) (256) State-Backed 1.25 1.25 6.25 2.2

Media (1) (1) (5) (7) Not Available 2.5 2.5 1.25

(2) (2) (4) Total 100 100 100 100 100 (80) (80) (80) (80) (320) Source: Authors’ calculations based on data collected on March 20th, 2020 Note: Categories are mutually exclusive and columns sum to 100%

Table 3. Distribution of all video content, per search query

Types of Search Terms Content % (N)

UK China Symptoms Conspiracy Combined Factual and 61.25 43.75 38.75 32.5 43.75 neutral (49) (35) (31) (26) (140) Personal and 15 10 25 25 19.1 investigative (12) (8) (20) (20) (61) Political 15 28.75 17.50 23.75 21.25 (12) (23) (14) (19) (68) Junk and 3.75 5 2.18 conspiratorial (3) (4) (7) Non-English 1.25 10 13.75 6.25 7.8 language1 (1) (8) (11) (5) (25) N/A 7.5 3.75 5 7.50 5.9 (6) (3) (4) (6) (19) Total 100 100 100 100 100 (80) (80) (80) (80) (320) Source: Authors’ calculations based on data collected on March 20th, 2020 Note: Categories are mutually exclusive and columns sum to 100%

1 Mostly Hindi. Table 4. Distribution of video content, per channel type

Types of Channel Type Content %(N)

Independent Professional Professional State- N/A Content News Health Backed Creator Media Factual and 7 93

neutral (10) (130) Personal and 69 6 investigative 25 (42) (4) (15) Political 31 65 4

(21) (44) (3) Junk and 57 42

conspiratorial (4) (3) Non-English 8 88 4

language2 (2) (2) (1) N/A 5 74 21

(1) (14) (4) Source: Authors’ calculations based on data collected on March 20th, 2020 Note: Categories are mutually exclusive and rows sum to 100%

Figure 2. Channel category by content type

How to & Style Comedy Political

Travel & Events

Education News & Politics

Not Related to Entertainment COVID-19 People & Blogs Music Gaming News & Politics Science & Technology Personal & Investigative

Factual & Neutral Entertainment Science & Technology

News & Politics Education News & Politics Education

Science & Entertainment Technology Gaming

Education

News & Politics Entertainment Non-English

People & Blogs Language Junk & Consipratorial News & Education Politics

2 Mostly Hindi. Thematic analysis

Having explored these patterns of public engagement, we subsequently examined the main themes conveyed in the top and most recommended video results across search terms. Notable points were the following:

The top search result for ‘coronavirus conspiracy’ on March 20th was a video commentary on a London Real’s interview of David Icke—a known British conspiracy theorist—in which he questions the veracity of official numbers coming from the WHO; suggests that the COVID- 19 coronavirus was specifically engineered by a ‘cult’ of the 1% to kill people who are immune- compromised and the elderly; and alludes to the possibility that it was released on purpose during the 2019 World Military Games in Wuhan.

The only other videos coded as conspiratorial and factually inaccurate across top search results were a highly sensational news broadcast purporting to show ‘leaked’ footage3 of police violence and people collapsing from the virus in Wuhan; an independent investigation accusing China of concealment based on reporting by the Epoch Media Group—an organization known for spreading conspiracy theories and anti- vaccination propaganda[1]—into one of Wuhan’s funeral homes; a conservative radio show diffusing false claims about the virulence of the virus compared to the flu; and news report amplifying ’s qualification of COVID-19 as ‘the Chinese virus’, against recommendations from WHO officials who warned that it could encourage racial profiling and xenophobia.[2]

Among some of the most frequently recommended videos across all search terms were factual news reports, the majority of which reported on the infection rates and death counts across Europe. Several reports contained footage of hospitals and featured testimonies from Italian doctors, either pleading for additional resources and

3 The video footage originated from a banned account. cautioning against political inaction. Interviews with COVID-19 patients and ‘survivors’ describing their symptoms were prominently featured on top recommendations.

The most frequently recommended politicized content in our sample consists of comedy shows, including John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, a quarantine special episode by stand-up comedian and popular podcast host Chris D’Elia, and a video ‘exposing’ Fox News’ Sean Hannity’s lies and purported cover-ups about the magnitude and lethality of the COVID-19 epidemic. Lastly, several videos questioned the Chinese government’s policy on wildlife trade or featured journalists going undercover at wet markets to shine light on the “origins” of the novel coronavirus.

References

[1] B. Zadrozny and B. Collins, “Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the -fueled rise of The Epoch Times,” NBC News, Aug. 20, 2019. [2] M. Gstalter, “WHO official warns against calling it ‘Chinese virus,’ says ‘there is no blame in this,’” The Hill, Mar. 19, 2020.