Social media and the spread of fake news in Nigeria : ENDSARS protest in perspective

Abstract

The last decade witnessed a massive twist in how information spread due to the advent of the internet and by extension the use of social media. Social media was used by Nigerian youths in 2020 to spread news and information concerning the activities of the Nigeria police unit responsible for anti-robbery operations (SARS) in the country, whom they accused of extortion, brutality and excessive use of force to quell crises. This later degenerated into a protest mostly in Abuja and Lagos with #ENDSARS slogan reverberating through social media. This study, therefore, was conducted to reveal how far was the social media used during the protest and to which extent was fake news circulated to fuel the crisis. A Descriptive survey research design was employed for the study where questionnaires in respect of the protest were generated and shared with 319 Nigerians to generate data. The result shows how social media was used to obtained firsthand information about the #ENDSARS movement which sometimes was enmeshed with fake news to draw sympathy for the protesters and turn citizens against the police and the Nigerian Government.