CSOs to Counter Misinformation during 2023 Elections

Safeguarding Online Civic Space (SOCS) says it has trained fact-checkers across Nigeria to counter misinformation and disinformation as the country gears up for the 2023 elections.

Development Diaries reports that the chairperson of the coalition of civil society organisations (CSOs), Funke Akinyele, said the group aims to protect Nigeria’s online civic space before, during, and after the polls.

Nearly 100 million Nigerians will on Saturday, 25 February, head to the polls to vote in their choice for a president who will succeed President Muhammadu Buhari.

Since the buildup to the 2023 elections began, the internet has been flooded with false news reports meant to misinform the public, and, most times, aimed at bringing down opposition candidates.

‘As the general elections are approaching, the overarching goal of this project is to protect online civic space by combating voter misinformation and disinformation while improving access to accurate civic information inclusively’, she said.

‘Unfortunately, some individuals, either by omission or commission, have distorted information, leading to misinformation, disinformation, and malformation.

‘The misuse and repression of both offline and digital civic spaces, no doubt, have contributed to the perceptions, mostly negative, of members of the international community about Nigeria’.

The group noted that in order to address the rising spread of misinformation, it has come up with a project – Safeguarding Digital Civic Space for Electoral Integrity (SDSEI).

The project is engaging critical stakeholders, including government, telecommunications, civil society, who have been united by an overarching interest in protecting the online civic space to maximise the benefits and minimise the threats to proper enlightenment and education of the populace on their civic rights.

Akinyele also called for media support in the group’s effort to combat voter misinformation and disinformation.

The fact-checkers have warned that false news could affect the polls and damage Nigeria’s democracy.

Earlier this month, Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, asked social media and search engine giants like Meta (previously known as Facebook) and Google to help curb the spread of false information ahead of the general election.

The Department of State Services (DSS) has also warned politicians against publishing false or harmful information.

Photo source: INEC

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