Understanding social media-mediated myths about COVID-19 in Nigeria

Adopting the functionalist perspective of Malinowski and the health belief model (HBM), we showed how the perception of susceptibility to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been blunted by social media-driven myths and conspiracy theories. We used Google Forms to conduct a cross-sectional survey to measure the awareness level of the COVID-19 pandemic among the staff of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka and the impact of frequently exchanged myths on social media on staff members. The findings indicate inter alia that the majority of the respondents, who are highly literate, associated the claim of strong immune systems (35.8%) and high-temperature levels (28.5%) of the weather conditions with the lower death rate in Africa. Nonetheless, many participants (42%) demonstrated sufficient/significant knowledge of COVID-19 symptoms and preventive measures and gained such knowledge through social media (42.5%). These findings, apart from underlining the potency of social media in health information and its tendency to spread myths, call attention to the need for confidence and trust-building measures from public institutions engaged in the national response to the pandemic. In effect, the resilience of myths, even among educated people in Africa, challenges us to reframe health communication to counter these myths.