Tackling evils of fake news, hate speech - The Nation Nigeria

A new study has emphasised the need to counter the advent of fake news and hate speech in Nigeria as well as stem the surge and its damaging impact on the polity. ASSISTANT EDITOR Bola Olajuwon reports.

A new study on the twin concepts of fake news and hate speech will soon be made available to broaden the horizon of the Nigerian media practitioners, the academia, politicians and other critical stakeholders.

The report, which was a product of research work by three distinguished lecturers – former Dean at the School of Communication, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Lai Osho and Dr. Seyi  Soremekun  and Dr. Jide Jimoh, also of LASU, went through the first of a series of validation by a panel of journalists and mass communication lecturers in Lagos recently.

Addressing the stakeholders at the event, former Dean at the School of Communication, Lagos State University (LASU), Prof. Lai Osho, said the report, which was funded by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), will also be presented to two other enlarged stakeholders.

The university don noted that the speed with which the internet enables the media to manufacture, process and disseminate information in this digital age has become dizzying.

Prof. Osho, who presented the report, explained that the easy access it has given to hitherto unrecognised participants in information production and dissemination has broken boundaries of professional and ethical gates leading to a flurry of unprocessed information flow.

“Confronted by the consequences of the situation, society has also responded through studies by scholars and voices of concerned citizens to the emerging realities. It is within the need for a continuous critical assessment of the situation and finding lasting solutions that this study is situated. With the rise of right-wing extremism worldwide and the somewhat disruptive and vituperative discourse that attended the 2016 United States (U.S.) elections that produced Donald Trump as president, interest has heightened on the use of fake news and hate speeches as instruments of political contestations.

“In Nigeria, the 2015 and 2019 general elections have also witnessed the upsurge in the use of fake news and hate speeches. A clear understanding of the pattern of use and implications and counter-measures has become even more imperative. Thus, this study focuses on the 2019 elections in Nigeria by apprehending fake news and hate speeches in the run-up to, during and after the election with a view to providing a road map for countering the malodorous effects on the polity.

According to the university, the general objective of the study was to find out the influence of fake news and hate speech in 2019 elections in Nigeria, with specific objectives, which include: to establish the extent of fake news and hate speech in the 2019 general elections in Nigeria; to determine the extent of fake news and hate speech in Nigerian social media; to find out dominant issues in fake news and hate speech and to analyse the probable implications of fake news and hate speech on the outcome of the 2019 elections.

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The method used in the study, the researchers said, was content analysis supported by In-Depth Interview (IDI) of major social media influencers.

The choice of social media by the researchers was due to the fact that they have now become the major spaces for social discourse especially among the youth.

“Social media have greatly widened the public sphere and enhanced higher level of public engagement and participation of hitherto neglected and/or marginalised social segment of the populace. The kind of professional restraint (gatekeeping) we find in the mainstream media are largely absent on social media platforms,” Prof. Osho said.

A total of 103 stories were found to be either fake news or hate speeches in the various social media studied. Out of the 103 items analysed for fake news and hate speeches, 57 (55.3%) were fake news and 45 (43, 7%) were hate speeches.

The study found more hate news than hate speeches within the study period. This may not indicate the prevalence of hate speech over fake news generally but it is an indication of the high level of prevalence of both in the 2019 general election in Nigeria.

“Interestingly, the study also found one story that is both a hate speech and fake news. This lethal combination highlights the need to pay more attention to both phenomena in the political and other spheres of the polity. Thus, the study found that there is a high prevalence of fake news and hate speech in the 2019 Elections in Nigeria.

“The statistics from content analysis and views from in-depth interviews agree on the high prevalence of fake news and hate speech in the pre, during and after the 2019 General Elections in Nigeria.

“It is also of interest to this study to find the media mostly used for the dissemination of fake news and hate speech in the 2019 elections in Nigeria. Online news platforms have the highest with 36 counts (35%). Twitter takes the second position with 33, representing 33%, of the total. This is a pointer to the increasing popularity of the social medium of twitter in the discourse of political issues in Nigeria. Facebook comes a distant third with 10 (9.7%) and blogs with eight counts (7.8%). Thus online news platforms, twitter and blogs are the most significant social media used to disseminate fake and hate speeches. Other media such as WhatsApp was also used but because of its end-to-end encryption, it more difficult to track by non-members of the group. Nevertheless, the hate speech and fake news tracked on other platforms are also shared by members in the WhatsApp group rapidly.

The male dominance of discourse in Nigeria is further supported by findings from this study. Male voices account for 69 (67%) as against female 8 (7.8%) only.

The study, according to the writers, found a high prevalence of both fake news and hate speech in the run-up to, during and after the 2019 elections in Nigeria.