Social Media Use and the Spread of COVID-19-Related Fake News Among University Students in Bangladesh

Context: After its emergence in China in 2019, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020. Since then, this virus has got wide coverage in print and electronic media. Rumours and fake news have also begun to spread across online and offline media. Objectives: This study aimed to discuss how social media is being used to spread fake news during the COVID-19 pandemic and the reasons behind this. In addition, this paper examines the overall use of social media by university students and their role in sharing fake news on social media. Methodology: An online survey was used to collect data from students who had a minimum of one social media account. Facebook groups, messengers and emails were used for data collection and 264 responses were recorded. Findings: This study found that 92.8% of students received COVID-19-related news on social media, 61% experienced fake news in many cases. This is because most users of social media share news without checking its authenticity and reliability, and without checking facts against reliable sources. It was also found that most students were fairly confident in detecting fake news and checked the authenticity of the news before sharing it on social media. Originality/Value: This is the initial effort in Bangladesh to recognise the role of social media in propagating false news during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the sample size of this study was very small. Further studies with larger sample sizes may reveal a more evident understanding of this topic.