Social Media Misinformation and Electoral Violence in Nigeria

The study investigated social media misinformation and electoral violence in Nigeria. The increasing use of social media during elections in Nigeria has facilitated the spread of misinformation and false political content. This has heightened political tensions, undermined public trust, and contributed to electoral violence. The objectives of the study were to examine the role of social media in the political process in Nigeria and analyse the influence of social media on electoral violence in Nigeria. The study adopted the Political Communication Theory made popular by Harold Lasswell in 1927. The study employed a qualitative research design and applied secondary sources of data; data were sourced from academic books, journal articles, government documents, reports of electoral management bodies, media publications, reports from civil society organisations, and other relevant online materials, among others. The paper revealed that social media has developed as a vital platform in Nigeria’s electoral process, improving political communication, voter sensitisation, campaign activities, citizen participation, and the dissemination of election-related information through platforms such as Facebook, X, WhatsApp, YouTube, and online media channels. The study concluded that conducting elections in Nigeria without recording widespread violence has become difficult, so much so that electoral violence is gradually becoming a marker for persistent democratic challenges faced in the country. Although the proliferation of technology, and by extension, social media, has influenced the electoral cycle through planning, strategy, training, information, and campaign, which has increasingly made the process less arduous, encompassing, and more engaging, yet, social media has, in the same direction, contributed to the furtherance of electoral violence in Nigeria, especially through disinformation, hate speech and propaganda. The paper recommended that the electoral body and political stakeholders in Nigeria should leverage social media responsibly by promoting accurate, timely, and issue-focused information while providing digital literacy programmes for voters to ensure that these platforms enhance informed participation without being exploited for misinformation.