The 5G COVID-19 Digital Wildfire: An evolving network of Twitter contacts to explore phase transition metaphors in viral misinformation

Published in PLOS ONE, 2026

This paper studies the spread of the 5G-COVID-19 conspiracy theory on Twitter, examining temporal interaction networks to understand digital wildfire dynamics. We observe patterns suggestive of phase transitions, identify influential users associated with amplifying large-scale conversations, and propose a framework for understanding the lifecycle of digital wildfires.

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Bibtex

@article{gasvar2026covid,
  title={The 5G COVID-19 Digital Wildfire: An evolving network of Twitter contacts to explore phase transition metaphors in viral misinformation},
  author={G{\aa}sv{\ae}r, Kaspara Skovli and Lind, Pedro G. and Langguth, Johannes and Hjorth-Jensen, Morten and Kreil, Michael and Schroeder, Daniel Thilo},
  journal={PLOS ONE},
  volume={21},
  number={3},
  pages={e0343661},
  year={2026},
  publisher={Public Library of Science}
}