Strengthening Media Literacy in Africa: A Crucial Defense Against Digital Disinformation

In an era where the digital world has democratized information access, every social media user has become an editor, fact-checker, and amplifier. While this revolution has empowered previously unheard voices, it has simultaneously exposed citizens to an onslaught of hearsay, propaganda, and coordinated disinformation campaigns.

For Africa, a continent experiencing rapid technological adoption, this digital transformation presents both unprecedented opportunities and significant perils. A 2024 survey on political disinformation revealed that most respondents in Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria, and South Africa now prefer social media over traditional news sources, leaving them increasingly vulnerable to false information.

This shift reflects a concerning global trend identified in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report, which ranked misinformation and disinformation among the top global threats – surpassing even extreme weather events in their potential impact.

The stakes are particularly high across Africa, where disinformation has demonstrated its power to disrupt elections, inflame communal tensions, and undermine democratic institutions. These campaigns, often orchestrated by both domestic actors and foreign powers, make strengthening Media and Information Literacy (MIL) within the region not merely a civic skill but an essential tool for peace-building.

Africa’s Unique Vulnerabilities

The continent’s information environment faces several distinct challenges. First, the rapid pace of digital penetration has exposed vast populations to online content without the gradual development of critical information habits. Without prior exposure to curated media, many find it difficult to distinguish credible information from propaganda.

When Nigeria banned Twitter (now X) in 2021 after the platform deleted a tweet by then-President Muhammadu Buhari deemed to incite violence, the seven-month restriction highlighted how regulatory approaches often fail to curb misinformation while simultaneously eroding public trust. This incident underscores why Africa’s fight against disinformation must prioritize education rather than restriction.

Second, global social media platforms operating in Africa often employ weak local moderation systems. Content in African languages such as Amharic, Oromo, and Hausa frequently evades algorithmic filters, making region-specific disinformation particularly potent and difficult to detect.

Third, Africa’s youth, as digital natives, play a critical role in the dissemination of information through their extensive peer networks – sometimes amplifying false narratives without proper verification.

Finally, competing geopolitical narratives increasingly shape online discourse across the continent. A 2024 report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies identified 23 disinformation campaigns targeting African countries, with 16 linked to Russian actors. During elections in Mali and the Central African Republic, Russian-linked networks, including Wagner Group’s media arms, coordinated sophisticated online campaigns to spread disinformation throughout the region.

The Real-World Impact of False Narratives

The effects of these disinformation campaigns extend beyond the digital sphere into real-world consequences. During the 2023 Nigerian presidential elections, political parties reportedly paid social media influencers to spread misinformation, including fake endorsements and fabricated narratives, undermining the electoral process.

Even public health initiatives have fallen victim to these challenges. In Uganda’s 2022-2023 Ebola outbreak, misinformation campaigns falsely claimed the disease was exaggerated or caused by witchcraft, hampering containment efforts. Similarly, during the COVID-19 pandemic, an online survey of 452 citizens across Cameroon, Nigeria, and Senegal revealed that conflicting information made many reluctant to follow public health recommendations.

While organizations like Fact-Check Ghana, UNESCO, and the African Centre for Media & Information Literacy (AFRICMIL) work to promote fact-based public discourse, they face an uphill battle against rapidly evolving digital platforms and increasingly sophisticated disinformation tactics.

The Literacy Paradox: Digital Adoption Without Critical Skills

Africa’s growing digital adoption has become a catalyst for economic activity and social mobility, reflecting high levels of functional digital literacy – the ability to communicate, transact, and participate online. However, functional use of digital tools should not be confused with critical literacy.

“While many can navigate devices with ease, far fewer can evaluate, verify, and interpret the flood of information they encounter,” notes a 2020 Camri study across seven African countries, which found that media literacy education is largely absent from educational systems. South Africa stands as the only nation among those studied to include even limited misinformation literacy in its school curriculum.

Internet access itself remains uneven; as of 2023, only about 37 percent of Africans were online, with just 27 percent using mobile internet. These disparities create a paradox where people are more connected than ever yet less equipped to critically judge the content they consume and share.

Building an African Response

Across the continent, various stakeholders have launched initiatives to address this gap. The African Centre for Media & Information Literacy has emerged as a continental reference point, while in May 2025, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights urged states to develop national media literacy policies and regulatory frameworks.

UNESCO’s “Media and Information Literacy for Youth Civic Engagement in Africa” project represents one of the more comprehensive efforts, reaching over 2,400 youth leaders and 230 organizations across six countries. Participants reported improved ability to identify hate speech and disinformation, with many noting that their “language on social networks changed” to reflect more responsible engagement.

However, most programs have targeted journalists or urban populations, while everyday users – teachers, elders, health workers, and market vendors who serve as critical information conduits in their communities – rarely receive systematic support.

Toward a Distinctly African Model

To build resilience against both misinformation and deliberate disinformation, Africa must develop its own MIL model that accounts for local contexts, languages, and community structures while incorporating global best practices.

This approach requires embedding MIL in school curricula, training educators, and engaging trusted community figures like health workers, religious leaders, and local officials to reach rural and informal networks. Critical information must be accessible in local languages to ensure widespread adoption.

Even as artificial intelligence has been exploited to spread false information, it could also be leveraged to enhance fact-checking capabilities and improve content moderation in African languages.

Organizations like Africa Check, Ghana Fact, Namibia FactCheck, and Dubawa play vital roles in verifying claims and identifying falsehoods. Yet their impact depends on capacity-building, training, and collaboration across sectors. Simultaneously, every citizen must develop basic media literacy skills to question, verify, and interpret daily information.

Only when professional fact-checking structures work in tandem with citizen-level literacy can African societies build true resilience against disinformation, ensuring that digital connectivity translates into informed democratic participation rather than confusion and manipulation.