A new study analyzing more than 11,000 YouTube videos and comments found that online narratives surrounding avian influenza evolved alongside major outbreak developments, including increasing reports of infections in mammals, sporadic human cases and economic consequences. While videos largely reflected scientific and public health information, audience discussions frequently transformed these events into broader debates involving institutional trust, politics, media credibility and alternative interpretations of disease risk.
Using large-scale artificial intelligence-based topic modeling, researchers from the University of Calgary and Université de Toulouse tracked how avian influenza narratives evolved across YouTube between 2020 and 2025. Most videos shared factual information related to outbreaks, prevention and disease surveillance, but video comment sections often reframed these topics through political, economic and ideological lenses. The paper is published in the journal PNAS Nexus.
"Our findings show that online discussions about zoonotic disease outbreaks extend far beyond scientific or veterinary information," said Dr. Guillaume Lhermie of the University of Calgary. "Although many of the videos we analyzed presented factual information about avian influenza, the comment sections frequently reframed those events through narratives centered on mistrust, uncertainty and competing interpretations of risk, science and public health responses."
