Perceptions and practices of young people regarding COVID-19 health misinformation and the underlying interdependencies

Health misinformation has long impacted public health, influencing behaviours and adherence to guidelines. Young people are one of the social groups at the centre of health communication in the digital age; they are digital ‘informavores’, meaning they actively seek out, gather, consume and share information to meet various needs. This study examines how young adults (aged 18–30) in urban locations in Nigeria navigated COVID-19 misinformation and the underlying interdependencies this implicates. Drawing on social cognitive theory, the study takes a qualitative approach, collecting data using focus groups and individual semi-structured interviews. Findings from the critical thematic analysis confirm the severity, virality and velocity with which false information about the novel coronavirus spread in parts of the country. Besides, the results reveal that the drivers of misinformation included the government, politicians, bloggers, social media influencers and citizen journalists. Young adults utilized unique verification and correction strategies, such as deliberate scepticism and curiosity, social listening and eavesdropping, personal experience and peer or citizen fact-checking. A chain of ‘interdependencies’ were fundamental to these experiences, including (inter)personal and cultural intermediaries, religion, politics, socioeconomic status, affect and emotions, among others. Young adults advocated for a proactive government, media collaboration, ethics of care and media and information literacy interventions to combat health misinformation. The findings align with the World Health Organization's public health research agenda for managing health misinformation from a sociological point of view, with the aim to foster evidence-based intervention.