International records / OpenAlex research

Dynamics and contours of online disinformation based on perspectives from Nigerian internet users

This study examined how Nigerian social media and internet users experience, interpret, and respond to online disinformation. The study was guided by the Uses and Gratifications and Social Cognitive theories. It explored four interrelated research questions. A qualitative design was adopted, using 12 focus group discussions conducted across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones (urban and semi-urban locations), with 84 participants aged 18–45. Data were thematically analysed, and findings show that disinformation is routinised as an everyday feature of social media experience, generating both selec…