{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T06:06:15Z","timestamp":1784786775356,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1784764800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Public Health"],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>During infectious disease outbreaks, the spread of false information online may undermine public health interventions. At the same time, free speech is a core value in democratic societies, and in the early stages of a novel pathogen there is a legitimate need for open discussion among scientists, policymakers, and the public to negotiate responses under conditions of uncertainty. Any restrictions on speech on social media should therefore reflect public attitudes and normative trade-offs. Currently, no standardized instrument exists to measure public attitudes toward free speech, content moderation, and punishment of misinformation spreaders on social media in the context of infectious disease outbreaks.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In this study, we report the development and standardization of a 13-item questionnaire designed to assess these attitudes. The instrument was standardized in an online study conducted with a diverse sample of 1,002 adult, English-speaking participants in the United States recruited via Prolific.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Factor analysis identified three distinct dimensions capturing attitudes toward (1) free speech, (2) content moderation, and (3) punishment for misinformation spreaders.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The questionnaire provides a standardized tool for assessing public attitudes relevant to social media governance during health crises and may inform the design of public health communication strategies and evidence-informed policymaking.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1824585","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T05:39:32Z","timestamp":1784785172000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Attitudes toward free speech, content moderation, and punishment of misinformation spreaders during infectious disease outbreaks"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Jan","family":"Piasecki","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioethics and Health Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College","place":["Krakow, Poland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria","family":"Zguda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Bioethics and Health Psychology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College","place":["Krakow, Poland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Krzysztof","family":"Gerc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Development and Health Psychology, Faculty of Management and Social Communication, Institute of Applied Psychology, Jagiellonian University","place":["Krakow, Poland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Natalia","family":"Segiet-Hojda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Medical and Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College","place":["Krakow, Poland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Michal","family":"Piksa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences","place":["Krakow, Poland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rafal","family":"Rygu\u0142a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences","place":["Krakow, Poland"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1007\/s11606-021-07171-z","article-title":"Vaccine hesitancy and exposure to misinformation: a survey analysis","volume":"37","author":"Neely","year":"2022","journal-title":"J Gen Intern Med"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1052","DOI":"10.15252\/embr.201744294","article-title":"Taking distrust of science seriously: to overcome public distrust in science, scientists need to stop pretending that there is a scientific consensus on controversial issues when there is not","volume":"18","author":"Kabat","year":"2017","journal-title":"EMBO Rep"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2022.974782","article-title":"Psychological interventions countering misinformation in social media: a scoping review","volume":"13","author":"Gwia\u017adzi\u0144ski","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Psych"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"100167","DOI":"10.1016\/j.focus.2023.100167","article-title":"Health promotion, health protection, and disease prevention: challenges and opportunities in a dynamic landscape","volume":"3","author":"Caron","year":"2024","journal-title":"AJPM Focus"},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"Public Health Ethics","author":"Holland","year":"2022"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1165103","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2023.1165103","article-title":"Are we willing to share what we believe is true? Factors influencing susceptibility to fake news","volume":"14","author":"Piksa","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Psych"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"912397","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2022.912397","article-title":"Cognitive processes and personality traits underlying four phenotypes of susceptibility to (mis) information","volume":"13","author":"Piksa","year":"2022","journal-title":"Front Psych"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"381","DOI":"10.1080\/23808985.2023.2225489","article-title":"Health misinformation: what it is, why people believe it, how to counter it","volume":"47","author":"Nan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Ann Int Commun Assoc"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1145\/3373464.3373475","article-title":"Misinformation in social media: definition, manipulation, and detection","volume":"21","author":"Wu","year":"2019","journal-title":"SIGKDD Explor Newsl"},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.1041391","article-title":"Is the myth of left-wing authoritarianism itself a myth? [original research]","volume":"13","author":"Conway","year":"2023","journal-title":"Front Psychol"},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"110251","DOI":"10.1016\/j.paid.2020.110251","article-title":"Right-wing authoritarianism, left-wing authoritarianism, and pandemic-mitigation authoritarianism","volume":"167","author":"Manson","year":"2020","journal-title":"Personal Individ Differ"},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpubh.2018.00149","article-title":"Best practices for developing and validating scales for health, social, and behavioral research: a primer","volume":"6","author":"Boateng","year":"2018","journal-title":"Front Public Health"},{"key":"ref13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"396","DOI":"10.9734\/bjast\/2015\/14975","article-title":"Likert scale: explored and explained","volume":"7","author":"Joshi","year":"2015","journal-title":"Br J Appl Sci Technol"},{"key":"ref14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1057","DOI":"10.30919\/esee1057","article-title":"Cronbach's alpha: a cornerstone in ensuring reliability and validity in environmental health assessment","volume":"23","author":"Izah","year":"2024","journal-title":"Energy Sustain Energy Environ"},{"key":"ref15","year":"2026"},{"key":"ref16","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref17","year":"2025"},{"key":"ref18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"93","DOI":"10.1080\/07481756.2023.2283637","article-title":"Choosing between Cronbach\u2019s coefficient alpha, McDonald\u2019s coefficient omega, and coefficient H: confidence intervals and the advantages and drawbacks of interpretive guidelines","volume":"57","author":"Kalkbrenner","year":"2024","journal-title":"Meas Eval Couns Dev"},{"key":"ref19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"The \u201cInfodemic\u201d Infodemic: Toward a More Nuanced Understanding of Truth-Claims and the Need for (Not) Combatting Misinformation\n          \n          112\n          123\n          \n            \n              Krause\n              NM\n            \n            \n              Freiling\n              I\n            \n            \n              Scheufele\n              DA\n            \n          \n          10.1177\/00027162221086263\n          The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science\n          700\n          2022","DOI":"10.1177\/00027162221086263"},{"key":"ref20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Macedo\n              S\n            \n            \n              Lee\n              F\n            \n          \n          Princeton, NJ\n          Princeton University Press\n          In Covid\u2019s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us\n          \n          2025","DOI":"10.2307\/jj.19583515"},{"key":"ref21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Science and ethics of \u201ccuring\u201d misinformation\n          \n          228\n          237\n          \n            \n              Freiling\n              I\n            \n            \n              Krause\n              NM\n            \n            \n              Scheufele\n              DA\n            \n          \n          AMA J. Ethics\n          25\n          2023","DOI":"10.1001\/amajethics.2023.228"},{"key":"ref22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"The COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement INstruments (COSMIN) and how to select an outcome measurement instrument\n          \n          105\n          113\n          \n            \n              Mokkink\n              LB\n            \n            \n              Prinsen\n              CAC\n            \n            \n              Bouter\n              LM\n            \n            \n              de Vet\n              HCW\n            \n            \n              Terwee\n              CB\n            \n          \n          Braz. J. Phys. Ther.\n          20\n          2016","DOI":"10.1590\/bjpt-rbf.2014.0143"},{"key":"ref23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Preferred reporting items for systematic review and meta-analysis protocols (PRISMA-P) 2015 statement\n          \n          1\n          \n            \n              Moher\n              D\n            \n            \n              Shamseer\n              L\n            \n            \n              Clarke\n              M\n            \n            \n              Ghersi\n              D\n            \n            \n              Liberati\n              A\n            \n            \n              Petticrew\n              M\n            \n          \n          Syst. Rev.\n          4\n          2015","DOI":"10.1186\/2046-4053-4-1"}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Public Health"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1824585\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]],"date-time":"2026-07-23T05:39:33Z","timestamp":1784785173000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1824585\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]]},"references-count":23,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1824585"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/fpubh.2026.1824585","relation":{},"ISSN":["2296-2565"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2296-2565","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,23]]},"article-number":"1824585"}}