Fake News in Nigeria: Causes, Effects and Management

GVU Journal of Management and Social Sciences, 2022

This study is an examination of fake news and its implications for Nigeria's security. The researchers used secondary sources of data. Data were collected from published and unpublished materials. The researchers argued that fake news is a threat to the good health and social wellbeing of Nigerians, democracy, political stability and can also cause violence and social unrest in the country. Thus, it was concluded that fake news is very harmful to Nigeria and people living in it. It was recommended that the Nigerian government should enact laws that would guard against fake news and strict sanctions should be placed on anyone found guilty.

2020

Ultimately, the effects of “fake news” can have detrimental consequences for the government of a polity and its democratic process. To be simple, the entire political process of democracy is based on reliable information. With large-scale and widespread dissemination of “fake news,” this crucial foundation has been more or less violated. As a result, citizens are not always able to form well considered opinions and hence make rational political decisions. It is on this basis that this study intends to examine fake news as a threat to Nigerian Democracy. The study is anchored on four objectives; to find out the rate of spread of fake news among Nigerians on both social and conventional media; to examine the effects of fake news on democracy, to proffer solution for combating fake news. In order to achieve the following objectives, the study utilizes secondary data as its methodology. From the study, we observed that the major causes of fake news are; quest for relevance, hostile gove...

Global Media Journal, 2019

The study was conducted to measure the effect of fake news on Nigeria’s democracy within the premise of freedom of expression. The study was anchored on four objectives to find out the rate of the spread of fake news among Nigerians on both social and conventional media; to examine the perception of media audience on fake news and abuse of freedom of expression; to find out the effect of fake news on Nigeria’s democracy; to determine measures that can be adopted in combating fake news The study selected purposive sampling and surveyed 60 social media user from Borno and Yobe (i.e 30 from each of the two states) and administered questionnaire. The study found that the majority of the respondents contributes in the information sharing system of media cycle. The study found that that despite the awareness of fake news among the respondents, there is limited alertness with regard to sensitivity of verifying information before sharing. The study also found that politics and crisis suffer more fake news than any other nature. The study found that fake news is still crucial because there are rounds of perceptions that influence its nature and thus its spread. The study also found that the respondents have negative perception about the extent to which fake news can affect democracy and democratic system of governance. The study recommends that awareness should be created so as to enlighten people who use the social media to avoid spreading unverified information and that other social media platform should copy from Twitter in restricting number of text user can post and identification of a verified account.

Global media journal, 2019

The study was conducted to measure the effect of fake news on Nigeria’s democracy within the premise of freedom of expression. The study was anchored on four objectives to find out the rate of the spread of fake news among Nigerians on both social and conventional media; to examine the perception of media audience on fake news and abuse of freedom of expression; to find out the effect of fake news on Nigeria’s democracy; to determine measures that can be adopted in combating fake news The study selected purposive sampling and surveyed 60 social media user from Borno and Yobe (i.e 30 from each of the two states) and administered questionnaire. The study found that majority of the respondents contributes in the information sharing system of media cycle. The study found that that despite the awareness of fake news among the respondents, there is limited alertness with regard to sensitivity of verifying information before sharing. The study also found that politics and crisis suffer mor...

Nasarawa Journal of Multimedia and Communication Studies, 2020

The emergence of new media technologies brought about the transformation of society in virtually all aspects of national life. It has collapsed time and distance barrier in communication and thereby democratising information communication apparatus. The increasing use of new media has raised concerns in several quarters on its implications to heighten the spread of fake news in society. The study utilises library research technique to gather data for the study while Inoculations theory and Conspiracy theory were the theoretical framework that guided the study. The paper argues that the proliferation of new media technologies has led to the dissemination of fake news in Nigeria. The study finds that new media technologies was being used to spread fake news and misinformation in key critical areas like political communication, war against insurgency, and the promotion of ethnic sentiments among Nigerians. The study recommends that government and tech companies educate the people on the mechanism of facts checking so that they can identify false and misleading information.

Studies in Media and Communiaction, 2019

Since the rising to notoriety of the present "genre" of malicious content peddled as "fake news" (mostly over social media) in 2016 during the United States" presidential election, barely three years until Nigeria"s 2019 general elections, fake news has made dangerously damaging impacts on the Nigerian society socially, politically and economically. Notably, the escalating herder-farmer communal clashes in the northern parts of the country, ethno-religious crises in Taraba, Plateau and Benue states and the furiously burning fire of the thug-of-war between the ruling party (All Progressives Congress, APC) and the opposition, particularly the main opposition party (People"s Democratic Party, PDP) have all been attributed to fake news, untruth and political propaganda. This paper aims to provide further understanding about the evolving issues regarding fake news and its demonic impact on the Nigerian polity. To make that contribution toward building the literature, extant literature and verifiable online news content on fake news and its attributes were critically reviewed. This paper concludes that fake news and its associated notion of post-truth may continue to pose threat to the Nigerian polity unless strong measures are taken. For the effects of fake news and post-truth phenomena to be suppressed substantially, a tripartite participation involving these key stakeholders-the government, legislators and the public should be modelled and implemented to the letter.

Advances in Media, Entertainment, and the Arts, 2019

The rising trend of fake news on social media in Nigeria has raised serious concern about the survival of the country's fledgling democracy especially as the country prepares for the 2019 polls which is expected to usher in a new set of leaders. The federal government had in response to the menace which has reached an alarming proportion launched a campaign against fake news in July 2018 to raise awareness about the dangers fake news portends for the polity. While some applaud the government for the initiative, others lampoon the government for chasing shadows instead of addressing the root cause. This chapter therefore examines the issues, controversies and problems associated with the deadly scourge and proffer solutions to halt the growing menace of fake news in the country.

2021

This discussion paper explores fake news and its impact on national cohesion: the Nigerian perspective. Recently, fake news has become a global phenomenon and impacts nations' economic and socio-political activities. The current discussion paper utilizes secondary sources to buttress the effects of fake news on Nigeria's national cohesion. The paper opined that fake news intentionally fabricated and disseminated information to deceive and mislead others into believing falsehoods. Further, the study discovered that some of the adverse effects of fake news include ethno-religious crisis, electoral violence, and economic instability, among others. Also, it identified the causes of fake news as the mistrust of the ruling class by the masses, social media and affordable data, capitalist motives, late release of information by agencies of government, inadequate capacities of media outlets to verify and release authentic information etc. As a result of fake news, it is recommended ...

Studies in Media and Communication

The Nigerian media space is flooded with fake news, which has become the bane of digital journalism in today’s world. This is occasioned by the emergence of online media platforms and news blogs in Nigeria that appears to have created a situation where everyone can lay claim to being a ‘digital journalist’ and spreads news stories that get circulated instantaneously whether factual or not. This study uses case analysis, and historicocritical methods to examine purposively selected fake news cases disseminated on social media that concern socio-political, socio-economic, and socio-cultural themes about Nigerians or Nigeria posted between 2017 and 2021. We found that fake news is rife in Nigeria and is increasingly becoming a sub-culture among the people. The article recommends a reorientation of Nigerians to do more critical thinking and to improve their digital media literacy in order not to fall prey to purveyors of fake news.

The study sought to evaluate fake news and journalism practice in Nigeria using the views of journalists and media scholars in Plateau State. Gatekeeping theory of the media was used as theoretical framework for arguments and discourse in the work. Through purposive sampling, 18 in-depth interviews were conducted among journalists in Jos and new media scholars in the department of Mass Communication, University of Jos. Results of the study revealed that the views of journalists and media scholars on fake news were unanimous. However, while journalists were of the opinion that fake news affects journalism negatively, media scholars had mixed reactions that fake news affects journalism positively. It was also revealed that there are no standard measures by media professionals or other regulatory bodies to counter fake news which implies very little gatekeeping especially in most online news sources. The study thus recommended, among other, that offenders should be sanctioned and all registered and licensed media organizations should step up their gatekeeping roles while registration should be extended to bloggers and other independent media entrepreneurs.