INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ELECTIONEERING CAMPAIGN IN NIGERIA’S 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS
INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON ELECTIONEERING CAMPAIGN IN NIGERIA’S 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Summary/Abstract: The swift advances in information and communication technology and multiple social media platforms, has had a dramatic impact on democracy today. However, regulating the spread of fake news have been problematic, thereby making political leaders to engage in political spinning. This study seeks to examine the impacts of social media on electioneering campaign in Nigeria’s 2019 general elections. This study revealed that social media like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has facilitated the direct political interactions between political aspirants and voters during the Nigeria’s 2019 general elections. Social media encourages the speedy dissemination of information to large audience within a short time. Also, this study further revealed that social media remain unregulated and many newsfeeds or stories emanating from it are unreliable as many “fake news” have emanated from it during the Nigeria’s 2019 general elections. Therefore, this study suggests that despite the advantages of the social media on electioneering campaign in the Nigeria’s 2019 general elections, most newsfeeds from the social media should be verified through fact-checkers (like Full Fact and First Draft) in order to prevent misleading information that are detrimental to human society.

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