DefinePK

Abstract

Social media has an important impact on all angles of life, such as social, political, religious and educational way of life. It engages the people to discuss social, political, economic, and religious information. It constructs the opinions of people; especially political scenario has been changed by it. The use of social media has connected politicians with people to shape their opinions. The aim of this qualitative study is to explore social media political disinformation and how Pakistani politicians especially Imran Khan addresses them. The study analyzes the speech of Imran Khan regarding “Social Media and Fakes News”. The study identifies persuasive strategies used by Imran Khan that how he convinces the audience about the negative impacts and dangers of fake news on social media through his persuasive strategies. Apart from this, the study examines the contributions of his persuasive strategies on disinformation and its impacts on democracy and the balance between civilians and military power. The study applies Aristotle’s modes of persuasion: ethos, pathos and logos in order to know the construction of the persuasive strategies used by Imran Khan. The findings of the study provide an insight about the role of social media and the significance of evaluation of information of social media.