Misinformation Through the Lens of Dutch News Media and Public Health Authorities: Content Analysis of Topics and Narratives Present in Pandemic-Related Misinformation During COVID-19

Background One of the multiple challenges associated with misinformation is its risk of hindering public health efforts during a health crisis. Misinformation can cover a diversity of thematic topics and is usually spread using a series of nontopic-specific recurring narrative structures. Identifying these 2 misinformation features helps to understand underlying structures and patterns through which misleading information can take shape or be circulated. Objective The goal of the study is to obtain a complete overview of the topics and narratives of pandemic-related misinformation cases addressed by 2 key information providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands: news media and public health authorities. Methods A quantitative content analysis was conducted on 698 news articles and 1333 tweets published between January 2020 and May 2023. Results The study revealed that vaccine-related misinformation, both in terms of topics and narratives, was the most frequently addressed type of misinformation across both sources. The topics and narratives evolved along the pandemic, with the virus origin and danger being more predominant in the misinformation addressed in the early phases and the vaccines gaining presence around 2021. Conclusions In total, the study revealed the dominance of vaccine-related narratives as well as the change of misinformation features over time. The deeper understanding of misinformation topics and narratives can inform communication strategies to counter its effects, focusing on the appropriate topics and narrative structures in different moments.