Is this pofma? Analysing public opinion and misinformation in a COVID-19 Telegram group chat

Abstract

We analyse a Singapore-based COVID-19 Telegram group with more than 10,000 participants. First, we study the group's opinion over time, focusing on four dimensions: participation, sentiment, topics, and psychological features. We find that engagement peaked when the Ministry of Health raised the disease alert level, but this engagement was not sustained. Second, we search for government-identified misinformation in the group. We find that government-identified misinformation is rare, and that messages discussing these pieces of misinformation express skepticism.