By CIPESA Writer |
Just over a year ago, Kenya was in the midst of a bitterly contested general election held in August 2022. The electoral period was characterised by hate speech and disinformation, which remain prevalent today. Indeed, recent studies have highlighted a booming disinformation industry in the country, fuelled by political, economic and personal interests with many actors…
By Ashnah Kalemera |
The proliferation of technology has created new opportunities for journalists and journalism in Africa, but it has also come with threats. For civil society, academia, media development practitioners, activists and development partners, it is critical to understand the key issues related to freedom of expression and the internet and possible ways to address them as part of…
News Update |
At end of the public forum on mis-disinformation in Ghana, media stakeholders highlighted three main drivers of the problem: political party propaganda, legacy media’s sacrifice of news accuracy for speed and the Ghana government’s regulation challenge.
Consequently, to arrest the problem, the main recommendations by participants were that stakeholders take action to stem these three main drivers. The forum also demanded…
By Apolo Kakaire |
The Internet which is viewed as the panacea for democracy, participation and inclusion is increasingly becoming a tool of repression deployed by regimes across the world to stifle rights and voice. Africa, a continent already replete with poor democratic credentials and practices seems to be rapidly catching up on the new ‘epidemic’- digital authoritarianism.
The use…
News update |
Similar to many parts of the world, women’s reproductive rights are a highly polarizing issue in Kenya. According to a new report by the Mozilla Foundation, Kenyans now have another factor complicating debates – that of targeted Twitter disinformation campaigns.
Findings from the report say that CitizenGO, a conservative advocacy group based in Spain, paid people to spread disinformation (pdf) about reproductive health in Kenya…
Par Richard Ngamita |
Le phénomène de la désinformation sur les médias sociaux est devenu une source de préoccupation croissante dans la politique mondiale depuis plusieurs années. Bien plus, ledit phénomène explose maintenant en Afrique subsaharienne, où les campagnes de désinformation via les médias sociaux sont de plus en plus déployées par des entités et des gouvernements étrangers pour influencer l’opinion.
Plusieurs…
CIPESA Writer |
Since the first case of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) was announced in Tanzania on March 16, 2020, the government has been in the spotlight for its handling of the pandemic. It has denied the severity of the pandemic, suspended media houses, and criminalised Covid-19-related speech through enactment and enforcement of repressive regulations.
In turn, there have been growing concerns…
By Mohamed Suliman |
When confronted with basic information such as ”Boston is in Massachusetts,” for instance, humans readily limit feedback to “true” or “false.” This binary framework is simple and intuitive, but the world is far more complex, and humans require more nuanced categorical frameworks to determine the truth.
When technology companies and researchers go through the process of building and constructing frameworks…
By Richard Ngamita |
In August 2018, a video of what appeared to be Ethiopian policemen assaulting a man by the roadside was shared on Twitter. There seems to have been a rapid response from the Addis Ababa Police Department (@Addispolice), leading to the arrest of the culprits due to the virality of the video.
The incident, is one of many which highlights…