Abstract
Mass awareness of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is crucial to the successful attainment of the SDGs (Grover et al., Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 2021). While the traditional mass media have not done a very good job of communicating the SDGs (Janoušková et al., Sustainability (Switzerland), 11, 1–20, 2019), social media platforms have been hailed as veritable platforms to educate the public about the SDGs and thereby help achieve social and behavioural changes needed to attain the goals (ElAlfy et al., Sustainable Development, 28, 1418–1430, 2020). However, the ease of access to social media platforms, such that anyone can create just any message and share it with millions of people across the globe, has given rise to disinformation communities taking advantage of public ignorance and anxieties (Ha et al., American Behavioral Scientist, 65, 290–315, 2021; Kornbluh, SDGs: Building Back Better, 57–59, 2020; Meel & Vishwakarma, Expert Systems with Applications, 153, 1–26, 2020; Yusha’u & Servaes, The Palgrave handbook of international communication and sustainable development, Springer International Publishing, 2021c). Such disinformation is inhibiting effective communication aimed at behavioural changes needed to achieve the SDGs (Waszak et al., Health Policy and Technology, 7, 115–118, 2018). Indeed, the spread of COVID-19 in early 2020, and the subsequent widespread disinformation surrounding it, heightened the public vulnerability to become victims of disinformation, including on the SDGs (Mensah et al., The Palgrave handbook of international communication and sustainable development. Springer International Publishing, 2021).
This chapter tracks the major and recurring disinformation trends about SDGs on social media platforms and how COVID-19 exacerbated the trends of disinformation on SDGs. Studies have shown that development issues, in particular those pertaining to SDG3 (Health) and SDG13 (Climate action), are prone to disinformation (Communications, N., Nature Communications, 8, 1–2, 2017; Ha et al., American Behavioral Scientist, 65, 290–315, 2021). Using sampled social media posts from Twitter, along with insights from documented cases around the world, this chapter highlights the impact of disinformation on the attainment of the SDGs, arguing that such disinformation is undermining the implementation of the SDGs. This chapter further makes recommendations on how effective communication by all stakeholders can help tackle the damage disinformation is doing to the journey towards attaining the SDGs.
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Sa’ad Abdullahi, B., Pindiga, H.I. (2023). Tracking the Diffusion of Disinformation on the SDGs Across Social Media Platforms. In: Servaes, J., Yusha'u, M.J. (eds) SDG18 Communication for All, Volume 2. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-19459-7_6
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