Role of Social Media in Spreading Fake News During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey among University Students of Bangladesh (open access)

Role of Social Media in Spreading Fake News During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey among University Students of Bangladesh

Arising in China in December 2019, the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) soon spread to other countries worldwide including Bangladesh. Mass media and social media platforms played an important role in providing Coronavirus related information and news as they enable people to share news as well as personal experiences with one another rapidly. Since little is known about COVID-19, various fake news spread across social media that panicked people into making panic decisions. The primary objective of this study is to examine how social media is spreading fake or unauthentic news during the time of COVID-19 pandemic. This study also focuses on how the university students of Bangladesh are playing their roles in the spread of fake news in social media. An online survey was conducted to reach a wide number of university students who own at least one social media account. A well-structured questionnaire was designed containing both open and close ended questions. Google forms was used to build the survey instrument. The questionnaire was distributed to the students using different social media platforms. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 20 and MS Excel. The study showed that the students sometimes received COVID-19 related fake news. The main reason behind …
Date: December 2020
Creator: Atikuzzaman, MD.
System: The UNT Digital Library