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The study presented here discusses public reception of the UK-wide government restrictions and regulations in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on language use on Twitter to (1) track the prevalence of diverse opinions and changes in public perceptions and (2) reflect on clarity of official messaging. Our report relates to the four themes outlined as part of the Initial learning from the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic collated by the National Audit Office: - transparency and public trust: providing transparent public-facing advice through clear and timely communication. - data and evidence: monitoring public perception of government advice, identifying issues with public compliance and quantifying different types of behaviours/reactions (compliance, non-compliance, call for stricter measures), validating the effectiveness of interventions by systematically gathering and evaluating end-user feedback (comments from the public). - coordination and delivery models: ensuring that public facing communication from government departments, central and local government, and public sector bodies is effectively coordinated and well-aligned. - supporting and protecting people: understanding the pandemic's impact on different groups and the risk of widening inequalities. The report is based on the results of the UKRI/AHRC-funded TRAC:COVID project carried out at Birmingham City University. The first section draws on the dashboard created as part of the project, accessible online at https://traccovid.com. The dashboard is an open access tool based on 84,138,394 tweets related to coronavirus posted by users in the UK between 1st January 2020 and 30th April 2021. The tool helps explore how social media have been used in the UK during the pandemic to talk about COVID-19. Our analysis shows that throughout the pandemic there has been a widespread support for the main measures used to contain the COVID-19 virus outbreak. In fact, a considerable number of tweets supported the introduction of even stronger measures than those imposed by the government, and many criticised non-compliance as a sign of selfish behaviour. The results also indicate a presence of users who actively used terms related to conspiracy theories and, although these views were found to be in the minority, it is important not to underestimate the role they play in undermining the efforts to contain the pandemic. The second part of the report reflects on the comprehensibility of official messages sent from government accounts and the accounts of public health bodies. The analysis shows a wide range of language-related problems, ranging from complex use of vocabulary and grammar and vague references to inaccurate information and potential exclusion of some of the intended recipients.

This case study reports on a study of COVID-19 vaccine misinformation on Twitter and focuses on the scale and variety of iterations of vaccination hesitancy, misinformation and conspiracy theories in ~84 million tweets sampled between 1st January 2020 and 30th April 2021. Findings suggest that COVID-19-specific anti-vaccination (i.e. anti-vax) discourse is underpinned by political (dis)trust, fears of corruption, concerns over safety, and exists within a wider conspiracy theory network. 1. Despite the presence of vaccine misinformation, the majority of tweets about vaccines in relation to COVID-19 either do not contain – or are critical of – vaccine misinformation. 2. COVID-19 vaccine misinformation exists within a wider web of misinformation and conspiracy theories in which attempts are made to undermine confidence and trust in vaccines, health professionals, and policy-makers. 3. Anti-vax tweets often reference multiple anti-vax ideas as well as conspiracy theories not specifically linked to vaccines. 4. Thus, vaccine misinformation can be communicated in numerous ways and alongside other forms of misinformation, making both the identification of an archetypal anti-vax stance and the disaggregation of concerns that inform anti-vax stances difficult, if not impossible. 5. Moreover, given relationships within and between anti-vax ideas and broader conspiracy theories, anti-vax content could be regarded as a vector for the spread of numerous forms of misinformation. 6. These relationships – investigated in this case study through hashtag co-occurrences – provide valuable insights into the 'discursive landscape' of vaccine misinformation and the forms of misinformation and conspiracy theories to which COVID-19 misinformation is related. 7. However, due to the various forms and configurations through which misinformation may be realised and communicated, there is no silver bullet to prevent or detect vaccine misinformation. 8. Some misinformation contains language directly related to known conspiracy theories (e.g. nwo), but other forms are exceptionally novel, subtle, evolving, and, indeed, designed to circumvent automated moderation systems put in place by social media sites. 9. The ongoing role of expert human analysts in interpreting these linguistic behaviours is therefore crucial. 10. More broadly, the outcomes of this case study suggest a need to investigate the social and political conditions that result in social alienation and distrust, which informs anti-vaccination and conspiratorial beliefs. More comprehensive understanding of distrust facilitates understanding of how and why misinformation has been so pervasive and enduring throughout the pandemic.