The Politicization of Ivermectin Tweets During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background We explore the ivermectin discourse and sentiment in the United States with a special focus on political leaning through the social media blogging site Twitter. Methods We used sentiment analysis and topic modeling to geospatially explore ivermectin Twitter discourse in the United States and compared it to the political leaning of a state based on the 2020 presidential election. Results All modeled topics were associated with a negative sentiment. Tweets originating from democratic leaning states were more likely to be negative. Conclusions Real-time analysis of social media content can identify public health concerns and guide timely public health interventions tackling disinformation.

Automated summary

Analysis of ivermectin discourse and sentiment on Twitter in the United States shows that all modeled topics are associated with negative sentiment, with tweets from democratic leaning states being more likely to exhibit negative sentiment. Real-time analysis of social media content can help identify public health concerns and guide timely interventions to address misinformation.