| Summary: | The COVID-19 pandemic is classified as an infodemic with the circulation of vast amounts of true and untrue information, especially through social media. The study’s aim was to explore different articulations of people’s understanding, handling and evaluation of (true) information, misinformation and disinformation in general and specifically linked to social media related to the COVID-19 pandemic, to illuminate the complexity of the construction of true information. A latent thematic analysis of qualitative data from an international web-based survey on COVID-19 and social media was carried out. The analysis resulted in five themes showing participants’ understanding and assessment of what is deemed as (true) information, misinformation and disinformation. An underlying dominant medico-political discourse on COVID-19 was seen in the articulations about COVID-19. There were expressions showing that scientific knowledge and political viewpoints were met with both blind trust and scepticism, journalists’ information represented a conglomerate of truth and lies, healthcare professionals’ recognition vacillated between trusted and guessing experts, social media were an arena for all kinds of information, and the need for filtering information on COVID-19, although this was impossible as knowledge of COVID-19 was generally considered to be uncertain. What was understood as (true) information, misinformation or disinformation was dependent on the viewpoint of the information consumers and influences potentially affecting their perspectives. Social media could be used to support one’s point of view, whether in line with the dominant medico-political discourse on COVID-19 or not.
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