Explaining Twitter’s inability to reduce vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic

Explaining Twitter’s inability to reduce vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Explaining Twitter’s inability to reduce vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic David A. Broniatowski, Wei Zhong, Joseph R. Simons, Mark Dredze, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5691823/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Oct, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Users dissatisfied with exposure to objectionable online content have begun to migrate en masse to new social media platforms. These new platforms share architectural features with legacy platforms, but offer content moderation services that legacy platforms no longer employ at scale. Such migrations assume that moderation interventions, such as deplatforming and content removal, are efficacious; however, this claim has not been evaluated based on evidence. We therefore evaluated the efficacy of Twitter’s attempts to curtail vaccine misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that vaccine skeptical accounts generated a larger share of tweets about vaccines, increased in virality, and became more misinformative after Twitter began removing content and accounts. We also found evidence that Twitter’s mass deplatforming of 70,000 accounts on January 8, 2021 preceded an increase in misinformation, calling into question the efficacy of these removals. Novel platforms that share Twitter’s architecture may therefore face similar moderation challenges. Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing/Information technology Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing/Computational science Full Text Additional Declarations Competing interest reported. M.D. receives consulting fees from Good Analytics and Bloomberg LP. Supplementary Files TemplateforsubmissionstoScientificReports2.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 15 Oct, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 25 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 21 Jan, 2025 Reviews received at journal 10 Jan, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 Jan, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Jan, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 08 Jan, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 28 Dec, 2024 Editor invited by journal 26 Dec, 2024 Submission checks completed at journal 23 Dec, 2024 First submitted to journal 21 Dec, 2024 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5691823","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":400477180,"identity":"b431ffa8-2ec6-4d8a-91b3-90d219ccc2ba","order_by":0,"name":"David A. 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