The Psychological Impact of Fake news about COVID-19 on Social Media Users in Pakistan

Abstract

The present study investigates the psychological impact of fake news on social media users regarding COVID-19 in Pakistan. A quantitative study was conducted through the questionnaire survey to investigate the psychological impact of fear and stress on social media users. Social media usage behavior in pandemics creates more stress and psychological fear cause of fake news. The 400 social media users, that age group divided into two groups younger & older adults part of this study through purposive sampling. The uses and gratification theory supports this study to identify the need to use social media in pandemics. This study reveals the fear and stress of fake news in a pandemic situation having an impact on social media users in Pakistan. The demographic factor also showed that there is a difference in age, gender, and qualification in the impact of fake (misinformation & disinformation) news during COVID-19 in Pakistan.