Covid-19: What are the Drivers of the Islamophobic Infodemic Communications on Social Media, 2020-2021

This was an 18 month research project that ran between June 2020 and December 2021 and examined the interaction between miscommunications and conspiracy theories in relation to key factors such as anonymity, membership length, peer groups and postage frequency, within the context of the current Covid-19 pandemic and Islamophobia on social media. The project was hosted at Birmingham City University and funded by the UKRI and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) under their Covid-19 rapid response call. The project explored irrational beliefs and thoughts that are disseminated on social media, covering important coverage of communications surrounding conspiracy theories online whilst paying attention to the content associated to racist ‘infodemic’ messages. The project also sought to provide insights into the drivers of Covid-19 narratives and consequences in fuelling existing extreme communications and Islamophobic language both online and offline.