This study investigates the impact of social media ‘fake news’ and fake cures headlines on how Netizens viewed and responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. Using data from an online survey (N=254), this study reveals that social media was overwhelmingly the most used type of media for news consumption generally, and the most important source of news about the pandemic. Data further reveal that the impact of extensive exposure to fake news headlines about the pandemic was dangerous and could have a deleterious impact. Crucially, this study finds that recalling and believing fake news headlines and using social media as the main source of news, significantly decreases the likelihood of believing credible and real news stories. Finally, this study offers theoretical and empirical background to frame the debate about factors that influence the believability of fake news headlines by contributing and extending the theorization of the amplification hypothesis.

Socio-political activism and its relationship with digital media diffusion is an ongoing subject of considerable debate among observers and scholars globally. This work creates a research trajectory on Nigeria by investigating the contributions of social media in the implementation of The Church Must Vote campaign. It examines the effects of connective action and clicktivism on political mobilization and evaluates how Christians used social media to increase their civic vitality during the 2019 general elections. A total of 6,951 online content, including 42 YouTube videos posted by the users of the hashtag, #thechurchmustvote, were explored via social networking analysis. Findings show that social media played a significant role in the success of the campaign and served as education channels to advise Christians on the need to participate in the elections. The impressive outcome elicits the recommendation that Nigerians should consider hashtag activism or clicktivism as a valuable political engagement system.

The debate on the influence of political advertisements is an ongoing one. It has been argued that political messages advertised during elections tends to change voter choice and preference of candidates during an election while others show contrary findings to the question. This study attempts to lend a voice to the debate by investigating the impact of political advertisements in voter behaviour during the 2019 general elections in South-South region of Nigeria. The study reports data from a paper-based survey (N=400) of voters in the South-South region of Nigeria. Findings uncovered that a substantial number of voters in South-South region of Nigeria were exposed to newspapers political advertisements during the 2019 presidential elections in Nigeria. Data further demonstrate that voters who reported to have been motivated to vote due to issues advertised in the newspapers by the two political parties (PDP and APC) were married, civil servants and those who factored the advertised issues in their preference for a political candidate. The study concludes that the media played an agenda setting role during the 2019 presidential election campaigns.

Social media platforms continue to flourish as practices encompassing them become deeply embedded in many cultures. As more people embrace social media platforms, their affordances and opportunities are leading to improved communication, and helping hold authorities to account. To further scrutinize the importance of these platforms, this study interrogates the role of digital media in socio-political contestations in Nigeria by examining the media used to mobilize, coordinate, and document the 2020 #EndSARS protests in Nigeria. Analyses of survey data collected in 2020 during the protests in Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria (N = 391) show that demonstrators who were 30 years and older and used WhatsApp and Facebook to learn about the protests as well as coordinate their participation in the protests are more likely to report participating on the first day of the protests than protesters who are younger than 30 and used other media platforms. Findings further illustrate that digital enthusiasm facilitated by hedonic-experiential and epicurean communication on WhatsApp and Facebook eventuated a process of emotional contagion through connective repertoires that created propitious emotional conditions for mass collective protest actions. Finally, the article discusses how the use of WhatsApp and Facebook gave protesters strategic communicative power during the protests.