When 21-year-old Precious received a video warning that the COVID-19 vaccine could affect menstrual cycles and ultimately cause infertility in African women, she did not think twice before forwarding it to her sisters and her friends, to save them from impending danger.

The video looked real and too believable to be fake. It featured a confident and articulate doctor speaking in fluent Hausa, her native language, with medical charts in the background and a prominent logo of a hospital. It was not until weeks later, after she fell ill and visited a local clinic, that she realised the entire video had been generated using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

“How was I supposed to know it’s not true,” she asked herself. Language localisation using AI tools makes disinformation more accessible in local dialects. This, and many other instances contribute to public distrust in healthcare systems in Nigeria and Kenya, because of deep-rooted mistrust influenced by misinformation. In some other cases, health workers faced workplace harassment with allegations of “implanting chips in patients” and “sterilising Africans” being the most common reasons given for such harassment.

From AI generated health hoaxes, deepfake political adverts and voice cloning to bots on social media, and concocted data and statistics, in this information age driven by algorithms, falsehood and the truth seem to be cloaked in the same fabric. As a consequence, the struggle for accuracy and veracity of information is intensified, especially in African regions where there’s limited media literacy and regulatory mechanisms.

Misinformation has always been a challenge but the emergence of AI has amplified its reach and sophistication. The thin line between misinformation and disinformation continues to blur. Misinformation spreads innocently, it is easy to imagine a member of one’s family sharing an AI-generated video warning that vaccines cause infertility—believing it’s helpful, just like Precious as aforementioned. Disinformation, however, weaponises false information with precise intent, tactics, skills and actions by different actors, like a politically motivated group using AI to fabricate a candidate’s voice to promise bribes to the electorate, with an intent to undermine credibility and sway voters during an electoral cycle.

While traditional media like television, radio, and newspapers have structures in place to verify information before it’s circulated, this is not always the case for social media. The wave of “Citizen Journalism”, amateur reportage and influencer-led digital campaigns has made it easier for misinformation to find its way into the public square. The motives aren’t too obscure to appreciate. They range from seeking political advantage for a narrative or viewpoint to the hunger for online virality and the desire to monitise said virality. There are also significant associated financial incentives for such online popularity regardless of whether it is grounded in truth or not.

From Clinics to Campaigns: The Cross-Sector Impact of AI-Driven Falsehoods in Africa

There can be devasting real life consequences. The proliferation of disinformation is fueling conflict in North Kivu, a region in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been marred by decades of armed conflict between a rebel group M23/AFC and the armed forces of the Republic of Congo. The effect of this has sabotaged efforts at unifying the region and building a lasting peace among the population.

Speaking to Open African Tribune, Patrick Santu, Congolese lawyer and activist highlighted the struggle the country has faced. “We’ve seen coordinated online campaigns that try to rewrite the narrative and present the rebel group as a local liberation movement. The impact is devastating. Propaganda makes it harder to get justice, to build peace and to hold war criminals accountable.” 

Young people are recruited into the rebel group through viral WhatsApp videos extolling the virtues of fighting for a legitimate cause, only to get hit with the reality when they reach the frontline.

The most populous country in the continent has had its own share of the menace. Nigeria’s 2023 general elections were marred by various attempts at election interference with AI-driven false election results, cloned voice notes of candidates plotting to rig elections, and fake political endorsements circulated via WhatsApp and X (formerly Twitter). This caused confusion amongst the electorate and deepened the institutional distrust in an already beleaguered Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the body responsible for conducting elections in Nigeria. Voter apathy, violent voting process, civil unrest, were some of the aftermath effects.

Websites were built to spread false claims and anti-democratic propaganda, bots and faceless accounts amplified polarising ethnic content, majorly between the Yorubas and Igbos and an already tense political atmosphere became even more taut with the emergence of daily tribal and ethnic social media wars, jeopardizing and harming friendships and thus making it even more challenging to form social progressive partnerships across ethnic and demographic divides. Again, an apt example of online falsehoods translating to real world violence.

“The 2023 elections in Nigeria were definitely impacted by misinformation from propaganda machines of the elites, ultimately influencing voters’ behavior. This particularly affected my own campaign as a candidate, when we had to travel more to convince our supporters that they can transfer their voters’ card to vote in a different location, after they have been misinformed that this is not possible,” said Ismail Ogunsola, a political activist and a candidate in the 2023 elections.

“Fake news is a symptom of a decaying system, not the disease itself. We mustn’t conflate critique with misinformation. Instead of state censorship, we need a democratic media landscape, where workers control the means of production and dissemination of information. The people, not the ruling class, must define the boundaries of free speech, because the freedom of press is the mother of all liberty,” he concluded.

Disinformation also has potentially destabilising consequences for Africa’s economies. Countries like Kenya and Nigeria grapple with the disturbing reality that traditional approaches are not competition for the speed and scale of AI-driven disinformation.  Making the rounds almost every day are fervent fake reports about major and popular company failures and closures, currency devaluation and market crashes, investment scams with fake endorsements by celebrities and popular social media influencers. Some of these fraudulent schemes that exploit public trust and sabotage digital infrastructure have triggered market instability in Nigeria and Kenya, constituting a new type of risk for local and international investors. Such incidents could spell grave danger for low-income individuals and households on the breadline as well as small businesses. Left unchecked, it could imperil SMEs which are the heartbeat of most African economies.

Fact-Checkers, Coders, and Community Voices: The Frontlines of Africa’s Misinformation Battle

The weight of fake news may seem too heavy for the continent to carry. However, all hope is not lost as African initiatives are taking on the disinformation machine, with the invention and incorporation of tools and tactics resisting the spread of false information. At the frontline of this battle are professional fact-checkers working independently or with fact-checking organisations, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international bodies like the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). Already significant efforts have been made at debunking fake news, misinformation and disinformation. Digital campaigns, media and information literacy workshops, public training of basic fact-checking tools, cross-sector partnerships, tech-based detection tools are some of the many ways this scourge is being tackled.

In June 2025, a video purportedly from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) circulated on Facebook, showing Prof. Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and the Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa saying that pathologists all over the world have found dangerous blood clots in individuals who took the COVID-19 vaccine.  A quote that read, “Everyone who received the Covid-19 vaccine is literally a walking corpse” is attributed to him, causing panic in the country.

Findings by Africa Check, an African fact-checking organisation showed that the video was a deepfake, edited to create an impression of a professional offering and authentic opinion in a genuine interview. It couldn’t be further from the truth. 

In Nigeria, election cycles are always tough and the 2023 February /March general elections was made even tougher. Nigerian fact-checking and research organisations like Dubawa, African Check, FactCheckHub, Centre for Democracy Development and others came together to form a coalition; Nigerian Fact-Checking Coalition (NFC).

“Fighting misinformation in real-time was an initiative the hub took up, to provide immediate debunking of false information, especially at townhalls and debates”, said Opeyemi Kehinde, Editor at FactCheckHub. This work continues well after the elections are over as efforts to combat misinformation include daily fact-check reports, articles, and explainers.

A report by Dubawa in collaboration with the NFC exposes Twitter and Facebook as leading platforms for spreading fake news. Out of a total of 127 claims fact-checked during the February/March elections, 89 were found on Twitter, 16 on Facebook, and others across other platforms. The ease of spreading fake news on these platforms is attributed to its public nature and open-ended conversations. Other organisations doing the same work are Pesa Check in East Africa and RoundCheck in Nigeria.

Censorship or Safety? Navigating the Clash Between Online Regulation and Free Speech in Africa

Following the success of the historic #EndSARS protests in 2020, the Nigerian government under the leadership of late former president Muhammadu Buhari shut down Twitter, as it was then called. The platform served as a major source of mobilisation, publicity, and support for those at the protest grounds. This move, which was heavily criticised across the political spectrum, raised concerns about the possibility of a clampdown of dissent and freedom of speech.

Many African governments have deployed legislative tools such as cybercrime acts in Nigeria, social media laws in Uganda and AI policies in Kenya, all intended to tackle hate speech, disinformation, and fake news, but critics have argued that these laws are purposefully vague, such that they could be weaponised against public dissent and civil liberties, a threat to people’s right to freedom of speech. Most experts agree that social media regulation is necessary to curb disinformation, but these regulations must also be clear, balanced, independent, and grounded in legislative transparency.

Wanja Maina, a Kenyan writer and advocate noted that heavy digital surveillance of activists and critics is ongoing in Kenya, and anyone can be picked up for spreading misinformation, depending on whom the content is about. “There is an AI divide between the cities and rural regions. A lot of people have no knowledge of how to verify the accuracy of information they receive, before they share,” she said, while highlighting the need for media literacy across sectors.

In Nigeria, political activists are campaigning for the repeal of some parts of the Cybercrime Act, citing that the act, in the hands of politicians, has become a tool suppress free speech. The efforts consisted of social media campaigns and physical direct action.

Damilare Adenola, the Lead Digital Campaigner at the Take It Back Movement while speaking with Open African Tribune emphasised the need for these laws to be made by a coalition of independent actors from different sectors, and devoid of political alignments. “Even if a government expresses sincerity of intendment to tackle disinformation, the absence of strong systems to safeguard fundamental human rights guarantees the overlapping of both.

“Without institutional checks, such actions can easily slide into repression. Before combating disinformation, there must first be a strong framework that protects freedom of expression and ensures state accountability,” he concluded.

Bolaji Oluwatosin, a Nigerian Digital Rights Lawyer, said that the solution must never be to infringe on constitutionally guaranteed rights like freedom of expression. “Across Africa, from Nigeria to Congo, we are witnessing how governments are tempted to regulate dissent in the name of fighting misinformation. But as seen in Congo, AI-generated disinformation is fuelling real conflict not because speech is free, but because institutions are weak, digital literacy is low, and transparency is absent”

“Rather than clampdowns, the focus should be on factual counter-narratives, civic education, and building public trust. Any regulation must meet the tests of legality, necessity, and proportionality, not political convenience. Once we begin arresting voices under the guise of fighting fake news, we risk silencing the truth alongside the lies,” he added.

 Conclusion

AI is not inherently dangerous but its misuse in disinformation campaigns comes with real world consequences, especially in vulnerable and unregulated media spaces in the African regions. Africa stands at a critical point where the real challenge is not in the urgency to counter fake news but with how government agencies and civil societies struggle to online space by not only silencing the lies, but to also safeguard the truth without silencing the people, their security, their economy and their realities.