ORIENTS SOCIAL RESEARCH CONSULTANCY (OSRC) & PAKISTAN LANGUAGES AND HUMANITIES REVIEW (PLHR) adheres to Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International License. The authors submitting and publishing in PLHR agree to the copyright policy under creative common license 4.0 (Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International license). Under this license, the authors published in PLHR retain the copyright including publishing rights of their scholarly work and agree to let others remix, tweak, and build upon their work non-commercially. All other authors using the content of PLHR are required to cite author(s) and publisher in their work. Therefore, ORIENTS SOCIAL RESEARCH CONSULTANCY (OSRC) & PAKISTAN LANGUAGES AND HUMANITIES REVIEW (PLHR) follow an Open Access Policy for copyright and licensing.
How to Cite
Gratifications behind Sharing of Fake News on Social Media Regarding Covid-19
Abstract
Due to their potential for causing serious damage, disinformation and fake news have greatly concerned the researchers of mass media globally during the vulnerable times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study objectives are to identify the motivations behind sharing of fake news regarding COVID-19 on social media and to examine if the results of the current study are consistent with the previous study findings of Apuke & Omar (2021) relating to Nigeria. We have conducted a survey (N=300) by testing six hypothesis using the theoretical framework of uses and gratifications. The study results differ from that of the previous study and have indicated that entertainment and pass time are the major gratifications behind sharing news regarding COVID-19 on social media in Pakistan. The research recommends the government and policymakers in designing a strategy for controlling the spread of fake news related to health sector on social media in Pakistan.
Authors
Barira Bakhtawar
PhD Scholar, Department of Mass Communication, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Dr. Faiza Latif
Associate Professor, School of Communication Studies, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Shabana Asgher
Assistant Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Lahore College for Women University, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Keywords
COVID-19, Fake News, Social Media, Uses and Gratifications
