Deception in the era of digital technologies and the distortion of reality and facts: An X-Ray of Nigerian peculiarities

Abstract

The phenomenal increase in the level of digital technologies has in no small measure enabled and opened new vista of possibilities that were hitherto inconceivable before the advent of these digital technologies. Indeed, this phenomenon has also increased the ‘crescendo’ of various seemingly impossible trends in the area of circulation of information in the globalised world in ways such as global rapid communication, unhindered and constant access to information, democratised production and dissemination of information and digital content, and the ability to coordinate global political activities or movements through several populist strategies and political antics employed by politicians. Currently, it is somewhat seemed intractable to separate truth from falsehood due to striking similarities in the appearance of the two. However, these phenomena have brought about untoward development resulting in the amplification of various forms of digital deceptions peddled on several digital devices. Like other countries, Nigeria, too, is battling with the rise in populism politics, fake news, ethnic nationalism (laden with ethnic jingoism), hate and dangerous speech and other kinds of digital deceptions, among others. The escalating herder-farmer communal clashes, ethno-religious crises in some states in Nigeria, a tsunami of misinformation and disinformation about COVID-19, as well as political tensions between the two dominant political parties (All Progressives Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP)), have been influenced by deceptions, untruths and political propaganda. Therefore, through extensive interaction with (and review of) both the extant and current literature, this paper: provides further insights into the evolving issues regarding deceptions, fake news, epistemic errors as well as democratic and social harms emanating from deceptions in the Nigerian polity. The methodology used in this paper involves a comprehensive but selective literature review conducted to locate papers (Journal articles and theses or dissertations) on the foregoing evolving issues. Also, literature related to each of the analyses of the trend of fake news and other forms of digital deceptions in the light of the emerging post-truth era and their potential impacts on the country is incorporated into the review. However, a conclusion is drawn from the findings while the paper recommends that curtailing the influence of digital deceptions and fake news on the body polity of Nigeria requires collective responsibility of all the stakeholders coupled with enhanced steps (which include but are not limited to: credibility, media skills, regulation, collaboration, media literacy, professionalism, gatekeeping, self-censorship as well as detection) towards fighting the menace and morbidity of digital deceptions in the country.