by Harouna Drabo
Since 2021, the security crisis has plunged several states in the region into political instability, marked by a series of coups d’état. In the wake of these constitutional upheavals, an anti-democratic narrative has taken root, widely relayed on digital platforms and fed by false information and manipulative narratives.
Youth, the prime target of disinformation
With a majority in the continent’s demographic pyramid, young people are hyper-connected and engaged, mobilising social networks not only as communication tools, but also as spaces for opinion-building and civic participation.
This active presence of young people in the digital public space makes them prime targets for disinformation campaigns, particularly those aimed at delegitimising democracy as a mode of governance and disorienting citizen aspirations. Conspiracy, revisionist and populist narratives circulate with formidable effectiveness in these spaces.
Faced with this reality, strengthening the cognitive resistance of young people is becoming a matter of urgency. This means developing the ability to identify, deconstruct and denounce the fake news hidden in the continuous flow of digital content. Training people to think critically, verify sources and understand manipulation strategies is becoming a democratic imperative.
Building structural alliances to better curb disinformation
The fight against disinformation cannot rest exclusively on the shoulders of specialised media. It is like a relay race, requiring coordination, complementarity and a shared vision. Continental networks such as the Plateforme Africaine de Fact-checkers Francophones (PAFF) and the Africa Fact Check Network (AFN) embody this desire to act on a regional scale. Their action is aimed at pooling the expertise of verification structures, strengthening local capacities and structuring a coherent pan-African response to the proliferation of fake news.
As part of this dynamic, consultation forums have been set up, notably between Meta’s administration and players in the information ecosystem. These exchanges are aimed at improving Facebook’s moderation policies, particularly with regard to the dissemination of fake news and hate speech.
However laudable these initiatives may be, they are insufficient if they remain isolated. Disinformation is a cross-cutting phenomenon, and so must be the response to it. It is imperative to build a systemic approach, based on interoperability between the media, civil society, public authorities and digital platforms.
In the multi-dimensional crisis contexts of the Sahel, the emerging alliances between specialised media, associations and institutions demonstrate considerable potential. Not only do they accelerate awareness-raising, they also democratise access to verification tools and spread a genuine culture of critical thinking. The challenge is clear: to make every citizen capable of dealing independently with the manipulation of information.
However, this multi-sector mobilisation will only bear fruit if it is anchored in a strong political will. The fight against disinformation must be fully integrated into public policies – whether in education, culture or digital regulation. To date, however, while some countries have introduced repressive measures, a comprehensive, inclusive and multi-sectoral public strategy has yet to be put into practice.
Finally, the commitment of digital platforms remains a sine qua non for the effectiveness of this collective response. Until recently, Meta, for example, collaborated with organisations such as Africa Check, Dubawa and PesaCheck via its ” Third Party Fact-Checking ” program. This enabled the company to pin false information, warn users, reduce the visibility of the content and, in some cases, remove it. Since January, however, the company has announced the end of this program, marking a worrying step backwards. On X, the disengagement is even more obvious since its takeover by Elon Musk, with a problematic replacement of regulation by ” Community Notes “.
Contrary to what the leaders of these platforms suggest, the fight against disinformation is not a threat to freedom of expression – quite the contrary. It’s inaction in the face of the degradation of information spaces that jeopardises the very foundations of democracy. As long as technology companies continue to shirk their responsibilities, efforts to guarantee the integrity of information in cyberspace will remain fundamentally incomplete.
Mobilising regional and continental organizations for information sovereignty
In a context where informational dynamics increasingly condition democratic stability, regional organisations such as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union (AU) have a strategic role to play. It is up to them to assume real leadership in structuring African digital sovereignty, by actively supporting the information resilience community – today present in over 30 countries across the continent, through more than fifty organisations committed to the fight against disinformation.
ECOWAS and the African Union have organised dialogue sessions with members of this community to take stock of the disinformation ecosystem in Africa. But the major expectation remains: these institutions must now take the initiative in high-level negotiations with the major digital platforms – those Big Tech that exercise, de facto, regulatory power over content circulating in the African digital space – as well as with the developers of artificial intelligence tools, whose technologies today fuel the massification and virality of disinformation, while making it increasingly difficult to detect.
The European Union, through its Digital Services Act legal framework, offers an inspiring experience. Africa would do well to seize this opportunity to formulate its own demands: algorithmic transparency, greater responsibility on the part of platforms, and effective protection of users against misinformation. It’s vital that continental bodies make these demands forcefully, while ensuring that they are adapted to the specific contexts, challenges and vulnerabilities of African societies. The ambition is to build an African digital space where access to reliable, verified and pluralistic information is the norm, not the exception.
Because information is the oxygen of society. To defend its quality is to defend the very foundations of democracy. Building a collaborative, multi-sectoral response to disinformation is fully in line with the long-term ambitions of ECOWAS Vision 2050 and the African Union’s Agenda for 2063.
Harouna Drabo is a specialist in foreign-influenced information operations in French-speaking Africa, particularly in the Sahel region. A member of the Board of Directors of the Plateforme africaine de fact-checkers francophone (PAFF), he maintains a constant dialogue with international players in the field to promote sustainable solutions and the sharing of best practices.