Nagpur: According to a new study, India produced the largest amount of social media misinformation regarding Covid-19 due to the country’s high internet penetration rate.
There was an increase in the social media consumption and lack of ‘internet’s literacy’ as per the study conducted.
The study ‘Prevalence and Source Analysis of Covid-19 misinformation in 138 countries’ analysed 9,657 pieces of misinformation that originated in almost 138 countries.
They were fact-checked by 94 organisations to understand the sources of information in different countries.
The study stated that out of all the countries India produced the largest media misinformation (around 18.07 per cent).
“Of all the countries, India (18.07 per cent) produced the largest amount of social media misinformation, perhaps thanks to the country’s higher internet penetration rate, increasing social media consumption and users’ lack of internet literacy,” it said.
The study further stated that India ranked the first ‘misinformed’ country with 15.94 per cent, followed by the US (9.74 per cent), Brazil (8.57 per cent) and Spain (8.03 per cent).
These are the four most misinformation-affected countries.
