Open AccessSOCIAL MEDIA AND FAKE NEWS ON CORONA VIRUS: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Author(s) -
Sandra Ukwuru,
Prisca Nwankwo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
nnamdi azikiwe university journal of communication and media studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2756-486X
DOI - 10.47851/naujocommed.v1i2.91
Subject(s) - misinformation , social media , disinformation , fake news , gatekeeping , internet privacy , publication , scrutiny , political science , advertising , media studies , public relations , sociology , computer science , business , law
Social media is the 21st-century media that has given every user an equal opportunity to publish news without passing through any form of gatekeeping, editorial, or professional scrutiny. This means that it has become a natural home for the spread of fake news even on the recent coronavirus with its consequent health implications. The authors deployed available materials and literature to discuss the burning issues surrounding fake news as misleading information on social media, especially how social media has become a natural home for fake news on coronavirus. More so, this paper reviewed the literature on the effects of fake news on coronavirus and then motivations for sharing fake news online as a way to provide a start-off point for an understanding of why social media misinformation on Corona virus has spread. The authors concluded by presenting a gap in literature, in addition to a research agenda for studies on the spread of health-related disinformation in Nigeria.