SOCIAL MEDIA SHARED FAKE NEWS ON COVID-19 AND ITS IMPLICATION ON THE HEALTH OF UNDERGRADUATES IN SELECTED TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The social media sites has increasingly been popular and appealing to youths, who are so absorbed in the media that they spend much time navigating across various platforms. While social media eases the consumption of online news, it nurtures the spread of fake news leading to damning behaviour, particularly during the period of Covid-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to examine “social media shared fake news on covid-19 and its implication on the health of undergraduates in selected tertiary institutions in South East Nigeria”. The study was anchored on Uses and Gratification theory of Mass communication. The study used the survey research method to sample the opinion of 390 respondents that are exposed to social media shared fake news on COVID-19 pandemic. It was discovered through the data generated, using structured questionnaire, that undergraduates are really exposed to social media especially on information shared on Covid-19 pandemic and that undergraduates are significantly influenced by social media shared fake news on COVID-19 in Nigeria as that they lost trust on health workers and government, abandoned all the precautionary measures by health workers and government agencies and equally find it difficult to differentiate the truth from falsehood. In line with the findings in this study, the researcher recommends that social media platform should ensure that their platforms are guarded against the spread of unverified and public misleading information in any form for the safety of the masses. More so, the paper recommends that governments and stakeholders should converge to find solutions to the spread of fake news and ensure that excesses are checked to curtail any ugly incidence and retribution that may arise again in the near future.