Fake News and COVID-19: Modelling the Predictors of Fake News Sharing Among Social Media Users

Highlights

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  Social media, fake news and COVID-19.

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  Misinformation on social media has fuelled panic among members of the public regarding the COVID-19.

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  Altruism is the strongest predictor of false news sharing on COVID-19 among social media users.

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  Information sharing, socialization, information seeking and pass time is positively associated with sharing false information on COVID-19.

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  Utilizing social media to entertain oneself is not associated with sharing fake news on COVID-19.

Abstract

Fake news dissemination on COVID-19 has increased in recent months, and the factors that lead to the sharing of this misinformation is less well studied. Therefore, this paper describes the result of a Nigerian sample ( n=385) regarding the proliferation of fake news on COVID-19. The fake news phenomenon was studied using the Uses and Gratification framework, which was extended by an “ altruism” motivation. The data were analysed with Partial Least Squares (PLS) to determine the effects of six variables on the outcome of fake news sharing. Our results showed that altruism was the most significant factor that predicted fake news sharing of COVID-19. We also found that social media users’ motivations for information sharing, socialisation, information seeking and pass time predicted the sharing of false information about COVID-19. In contrast, no significant association was found for entertainment motivation. We concluded with some theoretical and practical implications.