Social media disinformation and voting decisions during 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria

Abstract

Social media spread disinformation due to their characteristic features of anonymity and ease of producing, accessing, forwarding, and replicating media contents. Although studies have analyzed the influence of disinformation on voter choices, little is known about the false information that went viral on social media during the 2019 Nigerian presidential elections and its influence on voting decisions. Accordingly, the study identified social media disinformation about Muhammadu Buhari (All Progressives Congress) and Atiku Abubakar (Peoples Democratic Party), and its influence on voting decisions. Content analysis of Twitter, Facebook and YouTube posts revealed 10 viral pieces of disinformation about the contestants. Although the messages looked authentic because of their attribution, they were tagged false by independent fact checkers and disclaimers. They were also ascribed as false by survey respondents. Despite their presence, the information had little influence on voting decisions. While Facebook is the most used social media platform (48.6%), Twitter (60%) is the core channel of political disinformation. Posts used multiple story formats and information sources to make claims appear real. A combination of text, video, and picture was used for the political messaging, with pictures accompanying most stories for emphasis and message authentication. Each news story had more than 2000 likes and shares, which has implications for the continuous spread of false information.