Activists worry about misinformation disrupting African elections, driven by high Facebook usage, as social media companies operate with little oversight
Bloomberg : Tweets: @alykhansatchu , @alykhansatchu , @alykhansatchu , @alykhansatchu , @alykhansatchu , and @smith_jeffreyt Tweets: Aly-Khan Satchu / @alykhansatchu : Many of the administrators hide their identities, using names such as “Continuity, Continuity” or “Alpha the Democrat.” The pages have a combined following of some 800,000 people, equal to about a third of the country's 2.4 million internet users. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Aly-Khan Satchu / @alykhansatchu : “This assumption that developing countries are blank slates onto which technological fantasies can be projected is really dangerous,” @Nanjala1 @BW https://www.bloomberg.com/... Whoever Controls The Narrative Controls The World https://www.rich.co.ke/... Aly-Khan Satchu / @alykhansatchu : Political propaganda has become completely “normalized” as parties across Africa have grown more sophisticated in their use of social media, says Thomas Molony @BW https://www.bloomberg.com/... Whoever Controls The Narrative Controls The World https://www.rich.co.ke/... Aly-Khan Satchu / @alykhansatchu : A recent survey across 14 African countries found that 54% of young people read news on social media, and a third spend more than four hours a day online, mainly on their smartphones, according to the @Ichikowitz Family Foundation https://www.bloomberg.com/... https://www.rich.co.ke/... Aly-Khan Satchu / @alykhansatchu : In Guinea, dozens of patriotic-sounding @Facebook pages say President Alpha Conde is a savior and his main opponent wants to destabilize the country https://www.bloomberg.com/... Boyarkin has nothing but praise for Conde. “I consider him a savior for Guinea.” https://www.rich.co.ke/... https://twitter.com/... Jeffrey Smith / @smith_jeffreyt : “In the runup to #Guinea's elections on Oct. 18, voters are grappling with a familiar-sounding problem: disinformation and a lack of transparency over who's providing the news they are getting.” This is a major issue where web literacy is in its infancy. https://www.bloomberg.com/...