Public Knowledge and Attitude Towards News Misinformation on Social Media Platforms in Nigeria

Social media users knowledge and response to misinformation

Abstract

Misinformation has become one of the scourges that smear online news consumption, especially on social media. The emergence of this disorder has raised several conversations on management control and ways to sanitise the online space to accommodate more credible information. This study was carried out to examine the knowledge of social media about misinformation, and what they do with materials bearing falsehood online. In order to answer the four research questions that guide this study, the survey method was employed through the use on Google doc online questionnaire with were designed to elicit response from 425 respondents who were mainly media practitioners, scholars, mass communication students from about six higher institutions. The selection followed the principle of judgement sapling, which allows the researchers to selected samples based on their professional judgement and certain characteristics of the sample. The instruments consist of the 5-point Likert scale and close-ended questions. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and results were presented in simple tables and charts. The findings reveal that social media platforms in Nigeria, bear a lot of misinformation, about 97.2% claim they regularly see contents that misinform, 95.9% agreed that such is very regular on social media. Blogs, online forums and social network sites have been mostly indicted for carrying misinformation the most. While contents on celebrities, politics, gossips account for the subject bearing misinformation the most. To know what users do with misinformation materials, 215 of the sample verify the information, while about 160 of the respondents claim many do not know what constitute misinformation. However, some respondents ignore, about 130 say they blacklist the platform. Strict sanctions were recommended among ither suggestions.

KEYWORDS: Digital Literacy, Information Disorders, Misinformation, Social Media, User Knowledge