“Impact of Fake News on Public Opinion: A Case Study of 2018 Election Campaign in Pakistan”

Abstract

This study investigates the contemporary challenge of fake news faced by the state of Pakistan during the most recent national election campaign of 2018. Carrying out misinformation within the borders and from the external sources, targeting public opinion has become a norm for majority of the states. Extreme rhetoric is created in the form of fake news, false narratives, concocted stories and propagandas, negatively impacting the perception of a common man. The saga of misinformation creates different partisan groups who are in support of extreme narratives formulated by different actors. They craft different strategies and use tools (like social media) for promulgating fake stories. The shift from physical violence towards rhetoric is exceptionally visible in our society. The goal of this qualitative research was to learn more about the topic of fake news in Pakistan and how it affects social media users who vote in major democratic elections. The two-step flow theory and public choice theory were employed in this study to examine how individuals used social media during the election process. In view of the impact of fake news on the 2018 elections, the purpose of this study was to find out why people found fake news appealing. During the 2018 election, participants discovered a substantial volume of fake news items on social media, according to the thematic analysis. Therefore, this study highlighted how fake news is perceived and have an impact on public opinion in the novel case of Pakistan through exploratory study using qualitative analysis, revealing a major finding from the generated themes that how social media was creating societal polarization. It also suggests how it can be curbed in the upcoming elections.