Disinformation Campaigns in Africa: Actors, Consequences, and Responses

Centering disinformation campaigns in Africa, this book examines typologies of false and misleading information and assesses the devastating consequences of disinformation. Admire Mare and Allen Munoriyarwa cover the key actors, consequences of, and responses to combat disinformation campaigns that have been orchestrated by both domestic and foreign forces. This includes the spread of misinformation around elections, public health, migration, climate, and conflicts. This book provides historical analysis, examines the nexus between journalism and disinformation, and foregrounds conspiracy theories implicated in disinformation campaigns. The authors shed light on how these campaigns have been amplified in the digital age. It unpacks how everyday Africans’ dependence on both analogue and digital media platforms have contributed to the pollution of their communicative and information ecosystems. Using the revised propaganda model, weaponization, communicative ecologies, and decolonial lenses, Mare and Munoriyarwa analyze how informal and formal approaches have been leveraged to address the issue of disinformation in a multicultural, multilingual, and geographically-diverse context. This book highlights the interconnectedness of offline and online, domestic and foreign, as well as human and non-human typologies of disinformation.