Fake News on COVID-19: A Comparative Analysis of Facebook and Twitter

Abstract

Aim of the Study: Along with the COVID-19 pandemic,  we are also fighting 'Fake news. Fake news and rumors are rampant on social media. Believing in rumors can cause significant harm. The global spread of the novel coronavirus is affected by the spread of related misinformation, the so-called COVID-19 fake news that makes populations more vulnerable to the disease through resistance to mitigation efforts. Researchers analyzed the prevalence and diffusion of links to misinformation content about the pandemic across two major social media platforms, Twitter and Facebook.

Methodology: A qualitative and quantitative research design has been applied to this research to study fake news usage as a strategic tool of communication on social media, especially Facebook and Twitter. The data was analyzed on Microsoft excel 2016 version software to examine the questions in this study. This study applied content examination procedure to know the recurrence of phony news on Facebook and Twitter for quite some time from 26th February 2020 to 27th May 2020.

Findings: After the data analysis, the study found that in the first wave of coronavirus, Pakistani political personality-less use of social media like that on official Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. Responsible personalities did not share information about the corona case from time to time in one day via Facebook pages and Twitter accounts.

Conclusion: This research concluded that at the government level official did not actively use social media in the pandemic situation in Pakistan. They have to use in normal ways not to update their followers in which Facebook and Twitter but when they check others political issues they have actively used social media accounts but in the pandemic situation they have to less use of social media platforms. Fake news about COVID-19 is spread over Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. Pakistan is also facing the issue of fake news about COVID-19.