Discussion forums like Nairaland have emerged as a significant medium for foreign influence operations.
Nairaland, an internet forum popular among Nigerians, is playing host to geopolitical information wars. A Code for Africa (CfA) investigation found that multiple accounts on the platform are actively spreading propaganda that supports specific foreign interests while discrediting others. About 20 accounts have been consistently pushing propaganda for Israel, Iran, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, and the US.
A Nigerian entrepreneur, Seun Osewa, founded Nairaland in March 2005. While it now competes with many other social media platforms, it remains one of the top 25 most visited websites in Nigeria.
The site is organised into multiple sub-forums, each moderated by a group of content managers who enforce community guidelines. These moderators also play a key role in curating content for the home page — Nairaland’s most prominent space, where featured posts routinely attract tens of thousands of views. Because of the forum’s high traffic and relatively light-touch verification system, it has become fertile ground for coordinated influence efforts. The CfA investigation has found that many users operate under fictitious identities, making it difficult to trace the origins or affiliations behind their content.
Tactics, meta-narratives, and coordination
Activity on the platform has increasingly mirrored global geopolitical flashpoints, with some user accounts amplifying foreign-aligned narratives during periods of international conflict. An analysis of user behaviour on the platform reveals that while certain accounts begin posting foreign-focused content immediately upon registration, others follow a more conventional trajectory, initially engaging across a variety of sub-forums before pivoting to politically charged commentary. In both cases, a pattern emerges consistent with the amplification of specific state-aligned positions or ideological narratives.
These narratives often gain traction during major international events. For instance, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the Israeli military response in Gaza after the October 2023 Hamas attack, Nairaland saw a noticeable uptick in posts echoing partisan interpretations of those events. Many of these posts republish content from international news outlets, including those with identifiable geopolitical leanings such as Middle East Monitor and The Jerusalem Post.
However, its anonymity and lax content moderation have made it a breeding ground for disinformation and hate speech as well, with some users criticising it as a hub for ethnic and religious bigotry.
Based on the Disinformation Analysis and Risk Management (DISARM) framework, which provides a common language for documenting influence operations, the tactics these accounts adopt include distorting facts, using pseudonyms, creating clickbait, directing users to alternate platforms such as Telegram and YouTube, and encouraging physical violence.
The accounts routinely promote one-sided narratives, often celebrating attacks by the favoured side while framing retaliation as unjust or provocative. They amplify news reports that cast their preferred side as strong, righteous, and morally justified, sometimes even invoking religion for legitimacy while depicting the opposing side as weak or malicious. These posts frequently distort facts, spread disinformation, and accuse credible media outlets of bias or misinformation to reinforce their narratives.
The clear signs of coordination among the accounts include ideologically aligned accounts consistently commenting on each other’s accounts within minutes of publication, some accounts have similar usernames, stark similarities in content posted, and closeness in dates of registration.
Account, Writernig, has made at least 11 copies of itself — WritterNg, WriiterNg, WrriterNg, WriteerNig, WriterrNig, WritterNig, WriiterNig, WrriterNig, WriterNigg, WriterNiiig, and WriterNiig — all pushing pro-Russia narratives.