**9. Methodology**

This study adopts a qualitative approach and this was important for the study to get a very good understanding of the phenomenon being investigated. Nonprobability sampling and convenience sampling was used to select the fifty (50) participants and the focus area was Alice and Fort Beaufort in the Amathole Municipal District Area in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. Data was

*People's Perspectives on Covid 19, Fake News and the Vaccination Drive in South Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108933*

analysed using thematic analysis by paying careful attention to the emerging themes. In addition, content analysis was also carried out on fake news or comments on News 24, a South Africa online newspapers and also the South African government official website. Content analysis is very useful in helping to analyse peoples' comments on certain issues and thus know the views of the participants [43]. The contents analysed were picked in line with the research questions that guided this study. Key words like "COVID-19" and "fake news" were looked out for as online newspaper articles and social media messages were analysed focusing on issues related to this study. Data was subsequently analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis.

## **10. Data analysis**

#### **10.1 Exposure to COVID-19 information, fake news and misinformation**

The participants interviewed confirmed that they were exposed to many fake news and misinformation as the COVID-19 started and continued to spread in South Africa. They noted that they were daily exposed to or bombarded with different kinds of information, fake news and misinformation. Below are some of the views of the participants:

*"We wake up every morning to new information on COVID-19. Some information looked correct, some are fake and make us to have wrong information on COVID. Many times we got wrong information about the national lockdown being extended but they were lies"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 2)*

*"Every day, there was too much information on COVID-19. For me, it was a mixture of the good and information"*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 1)*

*"We get exposed to so much information on COVID-19 every day and everywhere. It was just too much information to cope with"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 4)*

*"We couldn't control the volume of true and fake information on COVID that came our way every day and from different angles. There was one that said that landlords should not collect rents during lockdown but it was a lie"*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 2)*

*"We were exposed to bad and good information on COVID-19. Some are good and helpful to us. Some are bad and wrong information"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 7)*

*"COVID-19 dominated and affected our lives too much. We do expect to receive information on it so that we know what to do ….. but then it was too much information that we got and some of them were not true….. like the kind of food or fruits to eat or medications or local herbs to take to avoid being infected by the virus" (Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 10)* *"For me, it was information overload on COVID-19. Left, right and centre, we get exposed to all forms of COVID-19 messages. It was too much to cope with" (Alice Interview Participant 12)*

*"I have never been exposed to so much messages and information in my life as people pass around too much information on COVID-19. Yhoo, it was that bad. There was a time when we heard that we will need permits to enter shops or move around but it was fake"*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 6)*

*"The high volume of bad or fake COVID-19 messages that we receive every day from different sources made life difficult for us"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 25)*

News 24, a South African media house through its online platform was able to debunk some of these fake news through its caption: CORONAVIRUS LIES | Debunking the hoaxes around Covid-19 (March 15, 2020).

News 24 notes that as the novel coronavirus continues to spread around the globe, so does misinformation, fear, fake cures, fake news and malicious hoaxes. Here we debunk that news. The newspaper listed a lot of fake news and debunked them. Some of the fake news include" Extending lockdown, government funding for only black-owned businesses, pets and hand sanitisers, Ibuprofen fake news, Department rubbishes letter claiming landlords cannot collect rent from tenants, Helicopter fake news – that helicopters are not going to fly around South Africa spraying chemicals to stop the virus. In addition, the South African government on its official website also continuously debunked all these fake news [44–46].

The views of the participants stated above are echoed by some scholars who noted that the advent of COVID-19 ushered in a period synonymous with high volume of fake news circulation [18, 19]. Balakrishnan et al. [21] also noted that COVID-19 and its nature afforded various content producers the opportunity to create different kinds of fake messages that were widely circulated on different platforms. No doubt, online content producers took advantage of the challenges and uncertainties around COVID-19 to come up with some scary and untrue messages to catch people's attention and misinform the populace.

#### **10.2 Social media platforms used as sources of fake news and misinformation**

The participants interviewed confirmed that various social media platforms or outlets were used to propagate or circulate COVID-19 fake news and misinformation. They noted that the common channels used include WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok among others as they get exposed every day to various kinds of information, fake news and misinformation. Below are some of the views of the participants:

*"Different channels of communication were used to circulate the latest information on COVID-19. I belong to some group chats and do get exposed to so much information that are helpful and some other information were scary and fake"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 20)*

*"I only have access to WhatsApp and you won't believe the amount of COVID-19 information that are circulated every day"*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 10)*

*"I am more on Facebook and there are countless messages on Facebook that focus on COVID-19. Some of these messages are fake as they talk about unreasonable things" (Alice Interview Participant 17)*

*"I use most of the social media platforms and do get exposed to lies about COVID-19 on WhatsApp, Facebook and even YouTube".*

*(Alice Interview Participant 25)*

*"We get various COVID-19 messages everyday…… on Radio and Television and the messages are useful and true. But the messages we get on social media platforms are dangerous and not truthful most of the time"*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 16)*

*"We were exposed to bad and good information on COVID-19. Some are good and helpful to us. Some are bad and with wrong information"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 17)*

*"COVID-19 messages were on television, radio and online platforms. I do access my information on WhatsApp, TikTok and television.*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 25)*

*"I got various COVID-19 fake messages on Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and YouTube. Various messages were posted one after the other"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 12)*

*"Fake news was everywhere as COVID spread …….. on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube etc. It was just everywhere in the media and it was bad for our survival"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 14)*

Looking at the above, there is a general consensus among the participants to show that content producers used various media outlets to circulate fake messages as COVID-19 spreads. Chari and Akpojivi [1], Fernández-Torres et al. [25] and Greene and Murphy [36] all noted that social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook among others were filled with various fake messages and misinformation that were circulated consistently. The fact that most people globally now spend some hours or minutes on social media makes such people to be vulnerable as they are exposed to such untrue messages.

#### **10.3 Effect of fake news and misinformation on people**

Most participants believed that listening to or hearing COVID-19 fake messages has affected them in some ways, physically and emotionally, more so as they exposed to texts, audio and video messages. They further noted that some of these messages affected their thoughts and action when trying to make some decisions around COVID-19. Below after some of the views of the participants:

*"Fake news made me to be fearful of COVID-19. Some news indicated that everyone will eventually be infected with the virus and die"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 20)*

*"The fake news on how wearing a mask could suffocate and kill was scary, more so as we are also told to wear our mask to avoid being infected"*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 10)*

*"The fake news on the dangers of taking the vaccines affected me most as I was planning to be vaccinated and protect myself. But hearing that taking vaccines is dangerous and that it could kill made me to initially change my mind, although I later on got vaccinated"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 17)*

*"The fake news on the available vaccines and that one is better than the other or that one kills while one is safe with the other …… this really affected me and many people too. It makes me to initially refuse to be vaccinated although I changed my mind after seeing people close to me that got vaccinated and were fine".*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 22)*

*"The government told us that masks must be put on when we go out and around places, but then, the news that wearing of mask is not healthy was bad as some people decided to do without the masks, which could harm their health. Other fake news were circulated too"*

*(Alice Interview Participant 15)*

*"These online texts and video circulated contained true and untrue messages on COVID-19. While we gained from the true ones, the untrue messages really affected our decisions and what to do to be safe during the pandemic"*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 18)*

*"Various COVID-19 fake messages were continuously circulated on Facebook, WhatsApp, TikTok and YouTube and believing some of them was also harmful as some people made wrong choices ad decision towards managing COVID-19. It was bad".*

*(Alice Interview Participant 12)*

*"The news on various untested COVID-19 treatments was bad for people's health and recovery as it stopped some people from going to the hospital to get proper medical attention".*

*(Fort Beaufort Interview Participant 11)*

*"There were many scary messages on COVID-19 that do not make sense but that we were made to consume and some of these messages affected our thinking and actions as we try to keep safe during the pandemic".*

*(Alice Interview Participant 14)*

#### *People's Perspectives on Covid 19, Fake News and the Vaccination Drive in South Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108933*

Indeed, the effect of fake news and misinformation was huge as COVID-19 spreads globally. The fear of the unknown, anxieties, fear and wrong portrayal of some COVID-19 related messages affected a lot of people around the world. Hartley and Khuong [23], Balakrishnan et al. [21], Carrion-Alvarez and Tijerina-Salina [22] and Rocha et al. [24] all attest to the fear associated with fake news and misinformation on COVID-19. It must be noted that people need the right message and every needed information as they navigate through the troubled waters of COVID-19 and it therefore becomes a problem when people have to contend with fake messages that could be detrimental to their health and survival.

## **11. Discussion**

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic came with various challenges for nations of the world, international organisations and agencies and individuals to cope with. As the virus continued to spread at an alarming rate, many countries around the world began to look for ways to halt its spread through revised health policies and action, which made them to work round the clock to reduce infection rates and thus flatten the infection and death curves. It was also important for citizens to be well informed on how to keep safe during the pandemic. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) and governments responded well in this regard, the influx of high volumes of fake news and misinformation became a threat to people's coping strategies to keep safe and avoid being infected by the virus. This chapter has found out from various literature and responses of the participants that were part of this study that social media was flooded with fake news and misinformation related to the virus and its origins, which social media users consumed every day. Other misinformation that were circulated includes various suggestions on possible remedies and cures for the virus, such as foods to eat and other things to do to avoid catching the virus or be treated if infected. Unfortunately, most of these suggestions are not tested or clinically proven and thus labelled as risky by the WHO. People's perspectives and engagement with fake news and misinformation was therefore critical for a safe navigation through the turbulent waters of the pandemic.

The Chapter or this study has found out that people got exposed to different kinds of COVID-19 information, fake news and misinformation on a daily basis. The fact that most people now spend a considerable part of their time on social media also makes them to be more vulnerable to these barrage of information. The fact that South Africa, like most countries was under national lockdown, made or force people to stay indoors and also spend more time on social media. Social media content producers also capitalised on this scenario by creating and circulating different kinds of COVID-19 related information for people's consumption. Some scholars have noted that the advent of COVID-19 witnessed a very high circulation of fake news and misinformation as content producers target vulnerable people that have been 'trapped' at home during the lockdown [1, 19]. As noted by Ghosh et al., [18] and Orso et al. [35], many online content producers capitalised on the fear, anxieties and uncertainties around the nature of COVID-19 to create different kinds of fake messages that were widely circulated on different platforms. While some messages accurately inform consumers, some messages were aimed at misinforming the people as content producers sought to profit from scary and untrue messages that will catch people's attention

and misinform the populace. The participants in this study noted unanimously that they were daily exposed to a mixture of true and untrue COVID-19 messages, which impacted on their daily live during the pandemic. As noted by Mutanga et al. [19], social media as a digital public sphere is therefore an ideal space to gauge public opinions and sentiments in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Chapter also established that various social media platforms or outlets were digital public sphere used to circulate these fake news and misinformation. This was motivated by the fact that people nowadays spend a considerable part of their time on social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok among others. The regular usage of these platforms therefore make the people to be exposed every day to various kinds of information, fake news and misinformation. Looking at the above, there is a general consensus among the participants that various social media platforms or outlets were used by different online content producers to circulate fake messages and misinformation as COVID-19 spreads. Mutanga et al. [19], Fernández-Torres et al. [25] and Greene and Murphy [36] all noted that social media platforms such as Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook among others were flooded with various fake messages that were circulated consistently. The fact that most people globally are social media 'addicts' makes such people to be easily available to see and consume many untrue messages, which could impact on them in some ways.

Lastly, this chapter has found out that the global inflow of fake news and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic had varying effects on people. The Chapter noted that listening to or hearing COVID-19 fake messages has affected many people physically and emotionally as they engaged with the texts, audio and video messages that they were exposed to. These messages affected people's thoughts and action when trying to make some decisions around COVID-19 and how to cope with it. This shows the power and effect of fake news as it plays on people's mind. Also, the fear of the unknown, anxieties and wrong portrayal of some COVID-19 related messages affected a lot of people around the world. Hartley and Khuong [23], Balakrishnan et al. [21], Carrion-Alvarez and Tijerina-Salina [22] and Rocha et al. [24] all attest to the fear associated with fake news and misinformation on COVID-19, which made people not to be sure of what to do. Having to deal with huge volumes of fake news during a pandemic complicated things and made life unbearable for the general public also detrimental to their health and survival. This is because people need the right and helpful messages as they navigate through the troubled waters of COVID-19.
