Effects of Fake News and Propaganda on Management of Information on Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

1. Introduction

It will be an understatement to say that the recent global pandemic – COVID-19 which caught all the nations of the world unawares came with so much jittery and nostalgia. Since it began in Wuhan, China in December, 2019, many lives have been lost to this virus. Families have been thrown into mourning, national economies have witnessed downward movement, businesses have been paralysed, social life in suspension and the future looks bleak with no hope of how soon normalcy would return to the nations. It is obvious that nations of the world are yet to come to terms with how to contain this deadly virus that has no respect for age, race, colour or religion. Despite the fact that the emergence of this deadly disease brought the whole world to a standstill, one thing that kept moving is information. There has been series of information disseminated via different media ranging from the radio to television, newspapers, internet social media and man to man. These information keep coming in form of news but one question that easily comes to mind is how genuine and tangible are these news. It is no exaggeration that in every situation, there are individuals that thrive on fake news and propaganda. These individuals engage in such act sometimes for personal gains. They always like to take advantage of situations especially trending on matters of great concern to people and blow it to suit their needs.

What is fake news? Fake news is false information purposely spread to deceive people (Lazer, et al., 2018, Cornell University Library, 2020). Fake news is simply fabricated information (news) without an element of originality or with intent to mislead. Most of the time, fake news is spread by individuals who have nothing to do with the original story and this has been the case since the outbreak of this pandemic. On the other hand, propaganda though synonymous with fake news can be referred to as disinformation. Propaganda or disinformation has been defined by Stanley (2015) as ‘politically motivated news that is directed to depress on citizen engagement and genuine political participation’. Stanley further explained that the goal of propaganda is to incite people to action and dampen information processing characterised by deliberation and reflection. Another subset of fake news is misinformation.

Misinformation is false, inaccurate, or misleading information that is communicated regardless of an intention to deceive (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2020). The emergence of social media as a key source of news content has fuelled further the spreading of misinformation thereby making palpably false news look as if they are legitimate (Gottfried & Shearer in Pennycook & Rand, 2019). Pew Research Center (2016) reports that 62% of American people get their news from social media. Whether propaganda, disinformation, misinformation or fake news, one peculiarity they all share is the intent to deceive and mislead because they all refer to news that has no basis in reality (Dollinger, 2017). Schneider cited in Dollinger (2017, para. 6) concludes by stating that "We are living in the midst of a sea of information that includes half-truths, manipulated information, opinion and advertising masquerading as news," "Often, this information has some basis in reality, but has been distorted in a way that is totally misleading".

For instance, at the inception of the pandemic, there was a wide rumour that the 5G technology is the source of the COVID-19 pandemic. This rumour has led to the setting ablaze of mobile phone masts in Birmingham, Merseyside and Belfast (Omand, 2020). This is how dangerous and misleading fake news could be. At the onset, some of the rumours circulated in Nigeria held that the ’’virus can only survive in cold weather and because Nigeria in is the tropical, the virus cannot survive here’’; ‘’the virus attacked Chinese because they are in the habit of eating life animals’’ and since we do not engage in such, it cannot spread to our country’’; ‘’anyone that consumes alcohol in large quantity will not be attacked by the virus’’; ‘’COVID-19 is just a flu and all you need is vitamin C tablets and Omega H3 capsules’’ and so there is no reason to panic. These and many other rumours had made the citizenry throw caution to the winds until the realities began to play out. Such kind of misleading news no doubt can wreck havocs and even constitute obstacles to effective management of the pandemic. The one million question begging for answer is: are we fighting just the Coronavirus or the fake news virus which has also eaten deep into our society?

2. Statement of Problem

It is obvious from the on-going that in the management of COVID-19, the place of information cannot be jettisoned but in the process of spreading and accepting information via various news media, people need to be cautious of distorted news. This study therefore seeks to measure the effects of fake news and propaganda in managing information on Covid-19 among Nigerian citizenry. The outcome of this study may shed light on how to identify fake news and uphold the truth even in the face of the outrageous pandemic.

3. Objectives of the Study

The general objective of this study is to measure the effects of fake news and propaganda in managing information on COVID-19 among the Nigerian populace. To achieve this, the following five specific objectives would guide the study:

• (a) Identify the sources of information on COVID-19 pandemic available to citizenry.
• (b) Investigate reasons for spreading fake news.
• (c) Examine how fake news has affected the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
• (d) Establish the consequences of fake news on managing covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
• (e) Identify ways to curtail fake news at a time like this.

4. Review of Related Literature

5. Methodology

The research design adopted for this study is survey. Study population comprises Nigerian citizens from the age of 16 years and above in all the 6 geopolitical zones regardless of their gender, qualification and profession. This is because we believe that from age 16, individuals are already mature to understand what a pandemic is and so they can relate with what COVID-19 stands for and the dangers it poses to humanity. Therefore, the study was targeted at people aged 16 and above using simple random sampling technique. Instrument of data gathering was questionnaire administered through Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey is an online survey tool use to gather data for research purposes. The platform used to administer the questionnaire for the study is the social media specifically, the whatsApp. Over a period of 6 weeks, questionnaire was shared among the targeted group via whatsApp platform. 375 people responded to the questionnaire. However, some questions were not answered by respondents hence the variation in the total numbers indicated on some tables and figures. Result of data was presented using frequencies, counts, percentages, tables and charts.

6. Result of Findings

Results on the gender distribution of the correspondents revealed that there are females (201: 53.6%) and males (174: 46.4%) respondents.

Fig. 1.

Gender of Respondents

Also, the age distribution of the respondents as revealed in Table 1 indicates that there are respondents within the age range of 46-55 years (138:37.5%), 36-45 years (81:22%) and 56-65 years (79:21.5%) than in other age range categories. The inference to be drawn from this is that majority of the respondents are within the age range of 46-65 years. This may be due to the fact that this category of people is in the active work environment and are likely to be more active on social media; hence their interest in the study and their availability to respond to the research instrument which was distributed using the social media (WhatsApp).

Table 1.

Age range of Respondents

Table 2 revealed that most of the participants in the study were from the South- Western geopolitical zone of Nigeria with response rate of 271(63.3%). This may be due to the fact that the level of awareness about COVID-19 was more pronounced in the South-West, Nigeria at the time of the study.

Table 2.

Geographical Zones of Respondents

Information gathered on the highest qualification possessed by the respondents in Fig. 2 showed University graduates with response rate of 281(76%) as highest participants. Of course this is not surprising as majority of people that depend on social media for daily interactions, getting in touch with friends and family, disseminating information and accessing news around the world are college students (Pews Research Center, 2016; Best Colleges.com, 2021) and so use of social media has become part of daily living.

Fig. 2.

Educational Qualification

As revealed in Fig. 3, majority of the respondents are public servants followed by a few (37, 10%) private practitioners and others. The reason for this may due to the fact public servants are more at risk of being infected by the reason of their jobs which involve interaction with different kinds of people at work, hence their interest in responding to the questionnaire.

Fig. 3.

Profession of Respondents

6.1 Sources of Information on COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

To establish the various sources of information on COVID-19 available to the people, respondents were asked to indicate their sources of awareness information on the pandemic. This will enable a clear justification of the credibility of their source of information. The data is presented in Table 3.

Table 3.

Sources of Information on Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

Table 3 revealed Radio and Television broadcast as the major sources of information on COVID-19. This is not surprising. It is very unlikely that there will be a home in Nigeria today, whether in rural or urban areas without a radio or television. These two media though serve as sources of entertainment to the people; they also remain reliable sources of information to them. Respondents were further asked of their opinion about the credibility of the various sources of information available on COVID-19. The result is presented in Fig. 4 Credibility of Information on Covid-19 provided in Nigeria.

Fig. 4.

Credibility of Information on COVID-19

Interestingly, majority of respondents affirmed that not all information on Covid-19 is credible. The implication of this is that participants are aware that some of the available information on Covid-19 is manipulated to misinform the people.

6.2 Reasons for Spreading Fake News and Propaganda

Furthermore, the study sought to identify the reasons behind peddling of fake news at all. Therefore, respondents were asked to indicate from a list of options presumed reasons for spreading fake news. Fig. 5 presents the findings:

Fig. 5.

Reasons for spreading fake news and propaganda

Amongst other reasons advanced for the spread of fake news and propaganda, Fig. 5 revealed political reasons (268), causing panic (237), intention to deceive (229), dubious reasons (199), attracting attention to oneself (190) and to distort facts (188) as major variables.

6.3 How Fake News has affected the Spread and Management of COVID-19 in Nigeria

Table 4 presented data on different ways fake news has affected management of information on COVID-19 in Nigeria. Multiple choice answers were presented to respondents. 25% response rate was used as the rule of thumb for the study and out of all; the above listed 10 options attracted more than 25% responses each. As indicated above, the greatest effect of fake news on COVID-19 information management is ‘disbelief’. It is not surprising that next variable to this in the ranking is ‘violation of precautionary measures’ put in place by government. The implication of this is that level of spread will be high while period of prevalence of the pandemic may be prolonged in the country.

Table 4.

How Fake News has Affected Management of Information on Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

6.4 Consequences of Fake News on Managing COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

Having explored how fake news has affected the spread and management of COVID-19 in Nigeria, the study also examined the attendant consequences of these effects on the management of the pandemic. Respondents were asked to indicate what they thought to be consequences of fake news on managing the global pandemic in Nigeria and Fig. 5 presents data obtained.

Fake news no doubt has affected management of information on COVID-19 negatively not only in Nigeria but in some other parts of the world. As revealed on Table 5, some of the grievous consequences it has in Nigeria included: reduction in public trust in the government and promotion of cynical view (266: 77.8%); violation of safety cautions (263:76.9%); increase in the rate of infection among the citizenry (249: 72.8%); wrong information on how to contain the virus (241: 70.5%); distorted information on the actual number of victims nationwide (216: 63.7%); stigmatization of affected persons and people with similar symptoms (209: 61.1%) and increase in digitally fuelled information amongst others. T Again, multiple choice answers were presented for this question and the rule of thumb for the study was used to select the above listed options amongst others. The implication of this result is that there is need for government to make conscious efforts to give public enlightenment on effects of fake news and propaganda.

Table 5.

Consequences of Fake News on Managing COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

6.5 Ways to Curtail Fake News

On ways to curtail fake news in the country, the below listed 7 options were presented to respondents as multiple choice answers. It is apparent from Table 6 that public enlightenment on effects of fake news (51.45%) topped the list of ways to curtail fake news. However, it is not certain if the situation in Nigerian has not defeated this method of curtailing the spread of fake news because from observations, every effort of government in form of public enlightenment and sensitization against COVID-19 did not yield the expected result, perhaps due to lack of trust in the government of the day.

Table 6.

Ways to Curtail Fake News

7. Discussion

The first section of the results focused on the demographic information of the respondents. Results on the gender distribution of the correspondents revealed that there are more female among the respondents. Also, the age distribution of the respondents revealed the largest population within the age range of 46-65 years. This may be due to the fact that this category of people is in the active work environment and prone to COVID-19 pandemic, hence their eagerness and interest in information, education and research. Secondly, the fact that this category of people has better access to information during the pandemic period could also be responsible for their interest in this study, hence their availability to respond to the research instrument. Moreover, information gathered on the highest qualification possessed by the respondents showed University graduate with response rate of 281 or 76.0%. This may be due to the fact that only people who are sufficiently educated could understand the myths and facts about COVID-19 pandemic and thereby are able to give accurate and relevant information as regards COVID-19 pandemic. Results presented on occupation of the respondents showed that majority of the respondents (217,58.8%) are public servants while only a few (37,10.0%) are private practitioners. Most of the participants (63.3%) were found to be from South- West geopolitical zone of Nigeria. This may be due to the fact that the level of awareness about COVID-19 was more prevalent in the South-Western Nigeria than every other geopolitical zone at the time of the study. It is also possible that people from the South-West, Nigeria were more willing to participate in the study than people from other geopolitical zones.

In responding to the objectives of the study, findings revealed that among the sources of information on COVID-19 pandemic citizen relied more on, Radio, Television and Social media (Facebook,WhatsA pp etc.) for their information needs. The fact that most of the respondents affirmed traditional media of radio and television as major sources of getting information about COVID-19 pandemic may be due to the fact that radio and television are sources of information available in most of the homes in Nigeria. It is very unlikely that there will be a home, whether in rural or urban areas, without either radio or television in Nigeria of today. The integrity of radio and television broadcast as source of information in this wise play a major role in fencing off fake news. However, it must be noted that ‘junk’ or ‘yellow’ journalism is a host to fake news and this can turn the colour of journalism lurid since fake news is an improved form of yellow journalism. (Agbese, 2017). The study also affirmed various reasons why people spread fake news. The most prominent reason advanced is political reason followed by intention to cause panic, deceive, for dubious intent, attraction to oneself and distortion of facts. The spread of fake news for political reasons may be due to apathy among the dominant parties in Nigeria as well as for the selfish interest of members of the political parties. Also, spreading of fake news to cause panic is usually with the intention of instilling fears in the people which ultimately may destabilize the society.

However, fake news has affected the spread of COVID-19 a great deal in Nigeria. Most of all, it has brought about disbelieve on the existence of the pandemic in the country; violation of COVID-19 precautionary measures by the people and lack of trust in government as most people believed it is a way of siphoning money by government. This spell a great danger for the people because the position of disbelieve and violation of safety measures can cause increase in the proliferation of the virus. In all, there are ways to curtail the spread of fake news. The study established that conscious efforts by government in giving public enlightenment on effects of fake news and propaganda as a major way of containing the spread of fake news in Nigeria. Establishment of anti-fake news center to censor and investigate sources of fake news was also attested to as a way to curtail fake news. How successful these might be is the question begging for answer as it’s been observed that every effort of government towards in form of public enlightenment and sensitization against COVID-19 did not yield the expected the result, perhaps due to the lack of trust in the government of the day by Nigerian people.

8. Conclusion

This study has brought to fore the fact that people obtain information on COVID-19 chiefly from radio, television and social media. Even so, it affirmed that people peddle fake news and the major reasons for this include political bigotry, intent to cause panic, deceit and dupe. This further support previous studies that established fake news or misinformation as a global menace that can lead to poor decisions about consequential matters; be difficult to correct and can have lasting effects even after it is being discredited (Nyhan & Reifler, 2015; Chan et al., 2017). In spite of all that the federal government of Nigeria is doing at all level to curtail the spread of the pandemic, majority of the Nigerian populace are skeptical because of lack of trust in the government.

This has hitherto affected the management of the spread of the virus in Nigeria in that majority do not believe in the existence of the pandemic. As a result, many do not see the reason to observe the laid down precautionary measures. In view of the ongoing, the study recommends that:

• ∙ Public enlightenment program on effects of fake news and propaganda should be organized by the government. All tiers of government should be involved in executing this so that people at the grass root can also be carried along.
• ∙ Nigerian government should as a matter of urgency and necessity build trust in the people. Government’s integrity should not be compromised with respect to time and situation. This can only be achieved through honest and transparent dealings.
• ∙ Directorate of anti-fake news should be established and managed by people with integrity. The directorate should be given the mandate to censor, investigate and reprimand sources of fake news.
• ∙ Punitive measures to be meted out to fake news peddlers should be passed into law.
• ∙ People should always check the source of information available to ascertain its credibility.
• ∙ Lastly, people should be weary of sharing unconfirmed information especially on the social media where the slogan ‘please share with your friends and loved ones’ has become a norm. Efforts should be made to verify information received before holding on to it. Some online professional checking tools include: All Sides. Com; Duke Reporters Lab.Org; FactCheck.Org; Politifact. Com; Snopes. Com (Benedictine University Library, 2020; Carlyle Campbell Library, 2020) and so on.

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