Covid-19 and Misinformation Prevalence: A Content Analysis of Fake News Stories Spread in Jordan

Abstract

AbstractSince the start of the COVID-19 pandemic social media networks emerged as pivotal means of communication and updates about the pandemic. As the pandemic continued to claim lives, an ample amount of unchecked information was circulating online about the disease, this resulted in citizens facing a wave of fake news not only in Jordan but across the world. This has led governments and health institutions to echo their concerns about the serious threat fake news can cause to citizens’ lives. This research study uses a quantitative content analysis to report on the sources and types of fake news spread in Jordan between the period of April 2020 until April 2021 using a data collected by a Jordanian fact checking news website named AKEED. This study is of a vital importance given the scale of concerns resonated by the World Health Organization about facing tsunami of misinformation termed as infodemic. This also comes in a time that is described as “post truth” era. This study concludes that both infodemic and post truth eras hold true in the case of fake news disseminated in Jordan. The study also found that many of these stories are originated from inside of Jordan and that social media networks were the dominant place for these false stories to spread and reach to audiences. The study reveled that fake news stories related to health were the highest number of stories spread in Jordan with the period of this study. Also, the highest percentage of fake news were classified as inaccurate stories with a percentage of 48.40% followed by an intentionally fabricated stories with a percentage of 24.52%.KeywordsSocial mediaCOVID-19Fake newsMisinformation