Misinformation and disinformation portend ill consequences for the stability of African governments, democracy and constitutional rule, Directors-General and security experts of some West African countries have warned during the high-level international conference held on Thursday, 7 November and Friday, 8 November 2024 at the Lancaster Hotel, Accra on the theme, ‘‘New Paradigms for Ensuring Peace and Security in Africa – The need for closer collaboration with non-governmental security and intelligence organisations.’
During the conference, the participants discussed mis/disinformation as an emergent threat to Africa’s security and democracy and identified that social media was a potent tool for the dissemination of mis/disinformation, fake news and AI-created deepfakes.
The session noted that apart from the distasteful political impact, mis/disinformation also risks fanning ethnic and religious sentiments which could pitch different groups of people and religious sects against each other.
The groups highlighted at the conference that the easy accessibility to social media platforms and the anonymity they can accord just about any user on mobile phones, computers and other digital devices in any part of the world, makes the misuse of platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube, among others, easy and widespread.
As a result, the twin evils of misinformation and disinformation have become “dangerous” and “difficult” threats to Africa’s security, stability and democracy, especially as any unverified, fake, distorted, manipulated or doctored information can be spread throughout the globe within seconds with very negligible control or restriction by the owners of such platforms.
The viral-sharing of any kind of information, it was discussed, is also aided by social media influencers with huge followings, whose main aim is to rake in dollars on apps that pay for content such as Google, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok as well as attract more eyeballs and subscription.
Such influencers and their huge followers, the conference agreed, could be “weaponised” by just about anyone with malicious intentions to sponsor the viral dissemination and distribution of unsubstantiated content for adverse political, tribal or religious purposes without recourse to verification.
States, private organisations and groups as well as individuals could patronise such services of social media influencers for parochial gains to the detriment of the collective good of an entire nation or continent – such as in the case of Africa where media and digital illiteracy make the situation even direr and, thus, more dangerous for the continent’s fledgling democracy which can easily be undermined and shaken off course.
On the geopolitical stage, it was underscored that superpowers such as the United States, Russia, Europe, China and Saudi Arabia, all of whom have various interests in Africa, could use or sponsor mis/disinformation on social media to influence political discourse and electoral outcomes favourable to their respective hidden interests.
For instance, it was cited that old photos, videos and even audio-visual footage could be manipulated and doctored with AI deepfakes to spread tailor-made fake news.
This new “battlefield,” the discussants noted, must be tackled “strategically” since it can be misused to create confusion, sow seeds of tribal, religious and political tension and division; create fear and panic; malign and destroy political opponents, aid terrorism radicalisation and recruitment; promote false narratives and violence to undermine electoral legitimacy, create apathy and aversion against health campaigns such as vaccination programmes, and even undermine security operations by leaking highly confidential documents and strategies or creating false narratives around operations that are yet to be deployed.
However, the conference pointed out that social media alone is not responsible for the spread of mis/disinformation on its various platforms.
It was underscored that unprofessionalism, one-sidedness, laziness, laxity and agenda-setting by traditional media platforms and untrained or jaundiced journalists, also fuel disinformation since such hitherto trusted and reliable platforms have now lost credibility in the sight of the general public, who, consequently, resort to social media for what they should have normally been fed with by traditional media in a more nuanced, verified, cross-checked and professional manner.
In essence, the conference concurred that the failings of traditional media have entrenched mis/disinformation on social media since, in the perspective of the public, no information can even be verified with certainty by traditional media.
At the end of the conference, the experts outlined the following as remedies to the problem:
a. Governments, through their Media Commissions, must work hand in hand with traditional media houses to ensure credible information for the consuming public. Additionally, fact-checking of information on various social media platforms must be encouraged.
b. Furthermore, African governments must collaborate with key social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, X, YouTube, among others, to collaboratively control and fight against the spread of fake news, particularly during elections.
c. Intelligence and cybersecurity agencies in Africa must create social media content and algorithms on very topical issues that gain traction on social media, as part of countering mis/disinformation.
d. Capacity-building and equipping security and intelligence agencies with the right tools to enable tracking, detecting and countering mis/disinformation will promptly enhance the fight against this menace.
e. The security and intelligence agencies must put in place charters that impose sanctions on their personnel who misuse social media for mis/disinformation purposes.
f. Africa must develop a home-grown strategy to counter fake news and mis/disinformation by inventing its own digital solutions instead of relying on Western technologies that can be compromised by the manufacturers.
g. A legal framework must be drawn to help deal with the perpetrators of mis/disinformation and the Judiciary must expeditiously prosecute such cases.
h. Traditional and religious leaders such as chiefs, Imams, Pastors, Priests as well as key opinion leaders must be called upon to join the fight against mis/disinformation since they are revered in African communities.
i. Government agencies must have official social media accounts through which they issue official statements. Such platforms can serve as verification sources for the public and, thus help in fighting mis/disinformation.
