The spread of misinformation on the internet can be likened to a wildfire. It begins with a spark. Then, it is picked up by another thing that catches fire and continues to spread until everyone is talking about it. As a researcher, you come across this fact, and because it is featured in so many …
Read more “From tiny sparks to wildfires: How misinformation sprouts in the internet era”
A lot of resources have been invested in getting journalists to do more fact-checking. But increasingly, we’re realising that it is not enough to verify claim after claim. It is not even enough to go after disinformation networks and get hundreds of bot accounts suspended from various social media websites. We also need to boost …
Read more “Innovative approaches to media literacy in the fight against misinformation”
One name that comes up often in the war against disinformation in Nigeria is the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a separatist organisation whose controversial campaign has ripped through Nigeria’s airwaves and internet spaces for over a decade. Despite multiple attempts to muffle its message, it has continued to have a powerful presence both on …
Read more “The IPOB Diaspora Network Pushing Disinformation In Nigeria”
One of the reasons given by Russia to justify its invasion of Ukraine is that it is trying to prevent the development of biological weapons by the United States. Somehow, Nigeria has now found its name in this web of controversy. Key takeaways: The laboratories pictured in the graphic shared by the Russian government are …
Read more “Russia Claims U.S. Is Making Bioweapons In Nigeria. True?”
The police command in Plateau State, North-central Nigeria, has also debunked the misleading claim. About four pictures went viral on Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29, with the claim that they depicted an attack in Jos, North-central Nigeria, involving between 230 and 250 Igbo passengers. But the images are not recent and were shot in unrelated circumstances. …
Read more “Igbo Passengers Attacked In Jos? No, Pictures From Zimbabwe, Southern Nigeria”
Photos often used by local media organisations to represent criminal herdsmen in Nigeria have been found to have roots in Kenya, South Sudan and Tanzania. Clashes between herdsmen and farmers in Nigeria have recently drawn more attention, especially with increased tension and hostilities in the southern region. On the downside, misleading information around the subject …
Read more “These Photos Of Armed Herders Were Not Taken In Nigeria”
The spread of the new coronavirus variant and the panic it has created have led to the emergence of a fresh wave of harmful conspiracy theories. And for the world to fully beat the pandemic, all hands must be on the deck to fight misinformation arising from them. Said to be as old as politics, …
Read more “Why Conspiracy Theories Can Be As Misleading As They Are Convincing”
Have you been following the official Facebook page of that reputable media outlet or rather one of its many lookalikes? Telling the difference is increasingly getting difficult as scammers have now extended their duplication game beyond just the brand name and symbols. But while some of these pages share publications from the original news platforms, …
Read more “How Fake Facebook Pages Push Misinformation Using Famous News Brands”
Claim: A Facebook group shared 10 photographs, which it said were about the killing and brutalising of civilians in Obigbo, a community in Rivers State. Verdict: False. The claim is not true as the pictures have been traced to incidents in other states as well as in a different country. Full text Biafra Today, a group on …
Read more “10 Photos Used To Depict Obigbo Victims Are From Osun, Lagos, Others”
There are 33 million active monthly users of Facebook in Nigeria. There are also many millions of people exchanging information on Twitter, 280 characters at a time. But just like the country’s population of phone subscribers cannot be determined using only the number of SIM cards in circulation, it is also hard to say for sure because …
Read more “#EndSARS: The Trend And Threat Of Fake Social Media Accounts”