Who shares fake news on social media? Evidence from vaccines and infertility claims in sub-Saharan Africa.

ABSTRACT: The widespread dissemination of misinformation on social media is a serious threat to global health. To a large extent, it is still unclear who actually shares health-related misinformation deliberately and accidentally. We conducted a large-scale online survey among 5,307 Facebook users in six sub-Saharan African countries, in which we collected information on sharing of fake news and truth discernment. We estimate the magnitude and determinants of deliberate and accidental sharing of misinformation related to three vaccines (HPV, polio, and COVID-19). In an OLS framework we relate the actual sharing of fake news to several socioeconomic characteristics (age, gender, employment status, education), social media consumption, personality factors and vaccine-related characteristics while cont

SUBMITTER: Unfried K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11003631 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature