TY - JOUR
T1 - An Exploration of Egyptian Facebook Users’ Perceptions and Behavior of COVID-19 Misinformation
AU - Shehata, Ahmed
AU - Eldakar, Metwaly
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Social media platforms have become an essential source of information for many users. The purpose of the current study is to explore Egyptian social media users’ perceptions and behavior in the context of COVID-19 misinformation. The study was conducted in two stages; the first included identifying and categorizing misinformation shared in the Arabic language on Egyptian social media pages, and the second stage involved distributing a questionnaire to capture the users’ perceptions and behavior. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach to achieve the research objectives. In all, 1304 questionnaires were retrieved. The findings of the study showed that there are four main types of misinformation shared on social media. The first type is false claims about the virus or treatment of the virus; the second is false information about the government; the third is false content in general or manipulated content, and the last type is conspiracy theories. The findings also revealed that gender and education affect how people deal with and accept misinformation. Additionally, it was found that the spread of COVID-19 misinformation has caused negative feelings among the participants. The study was conducted on a sample of Egyptian participants and Egyptian social media pages on Facebook, hence, the types of misinformation and the results may differ in other countries, depending on the social media platform and other factors that may play a role in the spread of misinformation.
AB - Social media platforms have become an essential source of information for many users. The purpose of the current study is to explore Egyptian social media users’ perceptions and behavior in the context of COVID-19 misinformation. The study was conducted in two stages; the first included identifying and categorizing misinformation shared in the Arabic language on Egyptian social media pages, and the second stage involved distributing a questionnaire to capture the users’ perceptions and behavior. The study utilized a mixed-methods approach to achieve the research objectives. In all, 1304 questionnaires were retrieved. The findings of the study showed that there are four main types of misinformation shared on social media. The first type is false claims about the virus or treatment of the virus; the second is false information about the government; the third is false content in general or manipulated content, and the last type is conspiracy theories. The findings also revealed that gender and education affect how people deal with and accept misinformation. Additionally, it was found that the spread of COVID-19 misinformation has caused negative feelings among the participants. The study was conducted on a sample of Egyptian participants and Egyptian social media pages on Facebook, hence, the types of misinformation and the results may differ in other countries, depending on the social media platform and other factors that may play a role in the spread of misinformation.
KW - coronavirus
KW - COVID-19
KW - disinformation
KW - fake news
KW - misinformation
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U2 - 10.1080/0194262X.2021.1925203
DO - 10.1080/0194262X.2021.1925203
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106208594
SN - 0194-262X
VL - 40
SP - 390
EP - 415
JO - Science and Technology Libraries
JF - Science and Technology Libraries
IS - 4
ER -