TY  - BOOK
AU  - Akintunde,Araoluwa Delight
AU  - Akkor,Eda Hançer
TI  - UNDERSTANDING COVID-19 MISINFORMATION IN AFRICA USING FACT-CHECKING WEBSITES
PY  - 2022///
KW  - Covid-19 (Diseases)
KW  - Dissertations, Academic
KW  - Misinformation
N1  - Thesis (MA) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research Communication and Media Studies Department; Includes bibliography (sheets 59-68)
N2  - ABSTRACT
The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic brought another kind of problem where the circulation of misinformation caused a Covid-19 infodemic. This study aimed to understand misinformation that circulated during the first wave in Africa by conducting a quantitative content analysis on two fact-checking websites, Africa Check and Dubawa. This study hoped to understand the types of misinformation, types of misinformation claims, actors and flow of misinformation and the most used media to circulate misinformation and the country of origin of these misinformation. The results showed that the type of misinformation that circulated the most was misleading content, the type of misinformation claims that circulated the most were about prominent actors, most actors of the spread of misinformation were ordinary persons and the flow was among themselves, as opposed to top-down or bottom-up and the media used to spread misinformation the most was online media platforms. The circulation of misinformation poses a terrible threat and must therefore be curbed by joint efforts of governmental and non-governmental bodies to ensure the safety of Africans.
Keywords: Covid-19, misinformation, Infodemic, Fact-checkers
ER  -