The Role of Face book In the Spread of Misinformation Related To Covid-19 and Its Impacts on the Mitigation Strategies for the Pandemic in Pakistan

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 has given rise to an extensive reliance on social media platforms for information and communication purposes. However, this has also given rise to an infodemic, i.e., a very high influx of information available on these online platforms. But the imminent lack of regulatory mechanisms on social media platforms like Facebook has contributed to the spread of misinformation as well. This research explores the role of Facebook in the circulation of misinformation related to COVID-19 and the impact of this misinformation on the mitigation strategies against the pandemic. This research is exploratory in nature, and uses a mixed methods research design to explore the research objectives, and employs a thematic analysis technique to analyse the findings of this research. The findings of this research depict that the lack of regulatory mechanisms on social media platforms like Facebook promotes the spread of misinformation related to the pandemic. This misinformation results in an increased fear and paranoia among the masses, causing the people to resort to medical alternatives, like herbal medicines, which worsen the implementation of mitigation strategies relating to COVID-19. Therefore, this study explores the role of Facebook in the spread of misinformation, with the aim of promoting awareness among the masses regarding this misinformation, and paving way for governmental initiatives to deal with the infodemic along with the pandemic.