A Thematic Analysis of Fake News in India During the Pandemic

ABSTRACT

This study identifies the different fake news verified by PIB fact-checking site. This study verified different themes along with the frequency of fake news which was verified by PIB site of Indian Government. As the data were collected during pandemic, this study attempted to find out the frequency in which different aspects of covid-19 were manipulated as fake news and subsequently shared through different media platforms. The fake news producers used different media platforms, including mainstream and social media, to disseminate fake news. This study also identified the different media applications where fake news were spread in large numbers by giants of fake news. The study also found that misinformation can be disseminated in different forms and languages too.

KEYWORDS:

• Fake news
• misinformation
• PIB fact-check
• social media
• Thematic analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.