Udende, PatrickAkpede, Kaior SamuelOmoloso, A.I.Abubakar, I.Y.2023-07-132023-07-132022978 - 978 - 928 - 618 - 8https://uilspace.unilorin.edu.ng/handle/20.500.12484/11501The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has attracted academic discourse in different respects. These studies range from role of social media in information dissemination to effects of COVID 19 outbreak on society. Despite attempts made to investigate the emerging conspiracy theories in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic, rarely does literature underscores how social media serve as platform to amplify COVID-19-related conspiracy theories that find social media as platform to viralise the misleading information embedded in the theories. Premised on this, this study was carried out to articulate the place of the conspiracy theories as misleading information pertaining to COVID-19 pandemic on social media platforms. Anchored on public sphere theory, the study argues that misleading information on social media as encapsulated in the theories have negative consequences including non-adherence to scientific measures to address the menace of COVID 19, stereotype of groups or countries, and erosion of trust and confidence in governments and other agencies, and spiraling infections and deaths mainly due to media illiteracy. The study recommends among other things the need for people to discountenance misleading information through media literacy as well as strictly adhere to non-pharmaceutical and scientific measures meant to reduce the rate of infections and deaths worldwide. It also recommends that developers of social media platforms should strengthen effort in deploying fact-checkers to dispel misleading information and make available and easily visible authoritative COVID-19- related content.en-USanti-vaxxers, coronavirus, misinformation/disinformation, public sphere, social mediaBook chapter