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The Four-Stages Strategies on Social Media to Cope with "Infodemic" and Repair Public Trust: Covid-19 Disinformation and Effectiveness of Government Intervention in China

The growing use of social media leads to a growing public engagement with professional questions and issues. During the period of Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of non-expert people participate in the discussion on the virus and official intervention process. These people are more likely to be influenced by Covid-19 disinformation and lose their trust in government. As one of the first countries suffered from Covid-19, China has been faced with this serious "infodemic". In this context, government agencies in China adopted the four-stages strategies (immediate response, diagnosis, reforming interventions and evaluation) on social media to weaken the impact of disinformation and repair public trust. Based on the structural equation model (SEM), this study constructs a research model to statistically test the roles of the four-stages strategies on public trust repair in China. The findings reveal that each media strategy shows positive impact on citizens’ perception of their government. From the lesson in China, it is suggested that government agencies need constantly cooperate with a wide range of social organizations to ensure the greater voice on social media. Also, it is necessary to regularize the four-stage strategies on social media as a whole system to mitigate the spread of disinformation and improve public attitudes toward government.