WhatsApp Faces Misinformation Problem in Nigeria, Reports Say (cnet.com)

Fake news is being spread on WhatsApp in some of Africa's most populous countries, according to two new reports, raising concerns over coming elections in Nigeria. From a report: Photoshopped images and false claims about politicians have been circulating on the Facebook-owned messaging service in Nigeria, which holds election in February next year, according to a report from The Poynter Institute on Friday. Many of the false claims are in local languages and exploit ethnic friction. One set of false claims focuses on how politicians will address clashes between a group of semi-nomadic herdsmen and farmers, Poynter said. Another rumor claimed a presidential candidate couldn't enter the US because of a corruption charge, Poynter reported.

Comments

Re:how can we just ban people from communicating!!

[AmiMoJo]

It's interesting how the far right has done a 180 on this, but with the same basic goal: to deceive people.

Used to be that they would try to control the media so that only their approved messages would be published. Now they can't control the media they have switched to attacking it, claiming that it's all fake an unreliable and, most ironically, that it's under state control. Instead people should listen to social media and preacher-like speakers-of-truth.

One way they do that is to present a false dichotomy where the only options are giving fake news equal weight or suffering the kind of totalitarian control they secretly dream of. Of course, since they are the ones producing much of the fake news, the result in either case is more or less the same.