This study examined the influence of fake news online on how social media users viewed and reacted to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Analyses of an online survey (N = 254) and contents from Twitter users in Nigeria from the hashtags: ‘#coronavirusNigeria’ and ‘#covid19Nigeria’ (N = 10,408), reveal that social media users in Nigeria used Twitter to inform and educate Twitter users as well as debunking fake news stories about the virus to prevent purveyors of fake news from misleading Twitter users in Nigeria. Findings further indicate that those who use social media platforms and national television as main sources of news and are less educated, are statistically more likely to believe fake news about the virus than those who are educated and used newspapers as main sources of news. Consequently, the study recommends that Nigerian political leaders enact policies that they can observe as their inability to adhere to their own lockdowns powered fake news about COVID-19 in Nigeria.

中文翻译：

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“Abba Kyari 没有死于冠状病毒”：尼日利亚全球大流行期间的社交媒体和假新闻

这项研究检查了在线假新闻对社交媒体用户如何看待尼日利亚的 COVID-19 大流行并做出反应的影响。对在线调查 ( N  = 254) 和来自尼日利亚 Twitter 用户的主题标签的分析：“#coronavirusNigeria”和“#covid19Nigeria”( N = 10,408)，显示尼日利亚的社交媒体用户使用 Twitter 来告知和教育 Twitter 用户，并揭穿有关该病毒的假新闻故事，以防止假新闻的传播者误导尼日利亚的 Twitter 用户。调查结果进一步表明，那些使用社交媒体平台和国家电视台作为主要新闻来源且受教育程度较低的人在统计上比那些受过教育并使用报纸作为主要新闻来源的人更有可能相信有关该病毒的假新闻。因此，该研究建议尼日利亚政治领导人制定他们可以观察到的政策，因为他们无法遵守自己的封锁措施，从而推动了有关尼日利亚 COVID-19 的假新闻。