African Youths and the European Union working to end Disinformation

 I participated in a blog contest some time back organized by African Mobility Lab about the title I put above. I did not obviously win, but that doesn't mean my article wasn't worth a read. So I've decided to share with you, my readers here. Looking forward to hear your feedback.

The world has progressed so much these past few decades and we have passed through so many changes, notably the improvement in technology. The world is now digital. The digital age has revolutionized the way information moves, people connect and communicate with each other and the flow of news and information has increased significantly. The media has become inseparable from our lives and larger parts of our lives have shifted from physical to digital spaces. We have shifted from traditional information sources such as newspapers and radio to the internet, which has taken hold of almost all the information that is shared around the world. Even press outlets now find for news on the internet and print it on paper the following morning. This tide of change has brought much positive changes. Information is now feely accessible on the Web and content consumers can easily engage with content creator on online spaces. However, there are as many negative changes as the positive changes, which the digital age has presented, and chief among them is disinformation. Disinformation and misinformation disrupts the quality of information and seeks to sway information recipients from making informed decisions. Disinformation is by definition the deliberate sharing of misleading and biased information. It is a quick and cheap investment used by the author to destabilize societies and push the manipulated masses into potential violence causers. Disinformation has pummeled gross violations of human rights by extremist groups. The spread of disinformation is a danger to improved service delivery, education and most importantly democracy.

People engage with media and information on a daily basis and rely on it to stay informed, engage with people in a meaningful way and be able to make informed decisions. Various information represent different values, beliefs, lifestyles, point of views (attitudes and feelings), and has the ability to empower users. Disinformation is opposes all this. Human rights call for the state and non-state actors to respect them and to protect conventional standards of proper behavior and justice for all.

There is a critical need for African and European member states to work together to tackle disinformation in all forms. As I have alluded, information is a tool for empowerment for social, economic and political change and the opposite is true with disinformation. Hence, there is greater need for cooperation between the two continents. Africa has always has ties with Europe which span over decades of history which have bonded the two. As the world progresses it is vital that mutually benefitting resources be formed and sustained.

Media and Information literacy (MIL) is key to defend people against disinformation and propaganda. It enables one to evaluate content, taking a wide selection of criteria into account. MIL make people to act on their information. In definition, it is information literacy in general. Essential competencies, skills and knowledge allow people to engage with media and other information producers effectively and develop critical thinking. There is need for European states to fund less economically developed countries in Africa to implement transformative education in school’s curriculums of today. Transformative education is about establishing new paradigms in the education systems that empower learners to be tolerant, open-minded and gives a sense of duty towards others. MIL is a vital part of transformative education because we’ as I said, live in a digital era where everything is embedded in media. Hence, learners are taught to be responsible digital citizens who interact constructively with information and information users online. MIL empowers one to access, analyze and evaluate all sources of information, not technology but analog types as well. Disinformation draws its strength from the basis that media users are not able to analyze information and its sources and can readily agree with all that it says. State propaganda and other non-state authors of disinformation flourish on this basis. MIL has five elements that are authorship: it allows users to analyze content sources and that they are responsible for creating accurate information, format: the technique used to attract attention, audience: to understand how people react differently to a single piece of information, the content itself and finally the purpose why the messaged was authored and distributed. These elements that digital citizens use be able to arm themselves with skills and tools will enable them to detect disinformation. Education is key to success and it is why I have considered it as the foremost tool to tackle disinformation.

Deterioration of democratic values in the institutions of Africa, including the government has presented an open stage for disinformation and state propaganda. There is need to create space for independent organizations and non-governmental organizations whose focus will be on tackling disinformation. In Europe, this has been successful in tracing disinformation and dismantling the media tools used by the authors. These organizations have received the full support of European member states. There is that same need here in Africa, European agencies with the support of both blocks can facilitate these formations through conducting forums and conferences on how they carry out their work and in what scale and capacity this be conducted in Africa. These forums can be platforms to understand how much disinformation is threatening democracy in Africa and what countries are targeted in Africa and the objectives of the authors of democracy. This will also act as a way of exposing some governments and a tool for curbing state propaganda as a tool for spreading disinformation and gain political favor. This exercise will seek to empower African member states with knowledge and competences that will enable them to make informed decisions such has how to maintain democratic values in their countries, safeguard cyber laws and regulations and reduce the amount of disinformation in their countries. If these independent organizations that trace disinformation are set up, they not only help individual countries but the whole continent. They can be able to solve the problems of illicit trade and taxation and corruption, this will promote human rights in the sense that the recovered monetary benefits are diverted to promote the welfare of citizens. Democratic nations in Europe and Africa have an obligation to speak out on practices by other nations who willingly support the spread of information in their countries.

It is the duty of governments to help its people to recognize disinformation in all forms. This is achievable through each government’s ministry of information or state departments of home affairs departments. Informational tools can be disseminated to people through government owned websites, government sponsored adverts on television and radios and the use of targeted cellphone messages. It is also the duty of governments to understand and promote the principles of free press and publishing. The reason why disinformation is rampant is because people cannot differentiate between true information and disinformation, and sources of information are limited thereby making it difficult to successfully analyze and evaluate content. According to Josh A Goldstein and Shelly Grossman at Stanford Internet Observatory, harassment and abuse using mobilized audiences to drone out journalists with opposing views and transparent, is a tool being used to spread disinformation. Journalists, media houses and content creators on online spaces must be allowed to exercise their constitutional rights such as the right to freedom of speech without fear of violence and backlash from government sponsored agents and extremist groups. The government should take the lead by abiding within the confines of the Human Rights Charters and the constitutions of their nations, and crack down extremist groups who create disinformation and spread disinformation using their complex networks, which may include some individuals right in the government and other positions of influence.

 Josh A Goldstein and Shelly Grossman also states that disinformation spreads through social engineering, which provides a framework to mischaracterize and manipulate events, incidents, issues and public discourse. Social engineering is used to sway public opinion in favor of certain agendas. This method is frequently used by authoritarian states especially in Africa who have the main motive of keeping one party states and discredit the voices of other political opponents. State propaganda is characterized by disinformation that has the sole purpose of twisting public opinion and hoodwinking people into thinking that the authors of the content are right and should be believed. This is a grave human rights concern; many rights are violated by propaganda, which causes civil unrest, gross injustices and abuses of power. As said, the only tool to tackle this is by promoting democracy amongst nations through platforms such as the European Union, the African Union, The Security Councils of both blocs and that of the United Nations and the United Nations General Assembly. So long, African leaders who are intent on dictatorship and promoting authoritarian systems are not hold accountable disinformation will always find a breeding ground. Progressive thinking leaders and leaders of the UN, AU, and EU must openly name and speak out against such leaders who violate human rights. The problem is that there is a cat and mice game were no one is able to defend what is true and just. When freedom of press is permitted, opposing voices are not silenced, people are given the freedom to choose their media sources and permitted to scrutinize information, and then will the walls of disinformation crumble to the ground, along with propaganda and the violation of human rights.