SOCIAL MEDIA AND ELECTIONS
Conrad Omodiagbe
Benin’s Legislative Election Marked a Day of Firsts
While the 2019 parliamentary election in Benin has come to an end, many spectators foresee the start of a new, more insidious era for elections in the country. The West African country, often seen as a pioneer of democracy in the francophone region of Africa, had a fair share of notorious firsts at Sunday’s election. […]
The Election Network
Sudan’s military removes Omar Al-Bashir from power and declares state of emergency
Sudan’s military has removed Omar Al-Bashir from power after 30 years and declared a state of emergency. The move brings to an end the divisive and autocratic reign of one of Africa and the Arab world’s longest serving leaders. It follows months of escalating protests against his rule that have been met with a brutal […]
Asari Ndem
Here’s how Nigerian newsrooms are fighting fake news ahead of 2019 elections
In 2018, the Nigerian Minister for Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, noted that the biggest threat to the 2019 elections was fake news and hate speech. He made this remark during the 47th Meeting of the National Council on Information in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria. His warning comes at a time when social media […]
Asari Ndem
Twitter suspends fake news accounts ahead of Israeli Elections
Popular social media platform, Twitter, has suspended 61 accounts peddling fake news ahead of the April 9 elections in Israel. This brings the total of related accounts suspensions to 343 since the election was announced last year. All 61 accounts involved had a total of 28,041 followers and mostly tweeted their fake news in English. […]
Asari Ndem
#Naijaistheparty: Inspiring young voters in Nigeria
Key members of Nigeria’s alternative music scene, as defined by Chiagoziem of filterfree.ng, have teamed up with The Election Network and Ford Foundation in an effort to mobilise millennial voters in the country towards next month’s general elections. According to statistics from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Nigerian organisation in charge of the […]
Conrad Omodiagbe
Facebook Looks to Tackle Fake News Ahead of Nigeria’s 2019 Polls
As part of its commitment to transparency, the Facebook team in Nigeria has expressed their desire to fight the current trend of fake news shared across the internet ahead of the Nigerian general elections scheduled to hold in February next year. Announcing this at an exhibition for members of the press and the general public, […]
Conrad Omodiagbe
Fake News and its role in Brazil’s 2018 Elections
According to an investigation carried out by a Brazilian publication, Folha, supporters of the new president elect of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, made use of the Facebook-owned social media platform, WhatsApp, to disperse unverified information about his major opposition during the October polls. With 55 percent of the votes casted in October, Bolsonaro allegedly benefited from […]