Democratic processes, especially free and fair elections, face a growing threat from disinformation. While complex, this issue is significantly driven by the design of commercial digital platforms—their attention-maximizing algorithms and targeted advertising systems are exploited by malicious actors and amplified by generative AI to manipulate public discourse.
Countering this requires not only promoting access to information as a public good but also enabling its effective use. Disinformation often thrives on low literacy and unequal access, but a further challenge lies in translating available data into actionable public knowledge. This necessitates robust collaboration among diverse stakeholders – fact-checkers, media, researchers, and civil society – to analyse data and make it accessible, fostering informed citizenship. Legal frameworks supporting data access and free expression, such as those in Africa, are foundational but require stronger implementation. To proactively address these challenges, RIA and IMS are dedicated to building stakeholder coalitions capable of defending information integrity. This session aims to identify specific threats within the African information landscape and forge collaborative partnerships prepared to safeguard the electoral environment.
This session forms part of RIA and IMS's participatory research on effective media coalitions during elections, employing threat identification mapping similar to successful work during the recent Ghanaian elections. The findings will inform ongoing tracking, analysis, and research reporting. The session also aims to contribute to stakeholder dialogues and a coordinated response to issues of electoral disinformation and information disorders broadly. We aim to awareness and build new alliances and networks on mitigating information disorders. RIA and IMS will publicize the session on organisation social media platforms as well as share a post session report capturing key issues from the session discussions.
