Fake news undermining Zimbabwe

Local websites such as ZimLive.com, dailynews.co.zw, ZimEye.net, regularly publish stories that are speculative and based on rumour, without any fact checking. They have taken advantage of the free media environment encouraged by the government to actually undermine the credibility of the mainstream media.

There have been calls for the opposition, particularly MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa, to distance itself from such fake stories and to engage constructively with the government to resolve the many challenges facing the country.

Instead Chamisa rejected Mnangagwa’s overtures for dialogue during the Opposition’s congress in the city of Gweru this weekend and spoke of potential bloodshed and destruction “when we do what we will do after congress,” urging his supporters to prepare for protests.

The opposition has called for a ‘Total & Final Shutdown!!!’ for the week beginning 27 May via social media, threatening those that don’t want to participate. “If you decide to come to work during the stay away or to open your shop, do not cry fowl (sic) when rowdy elements, taking advantage of the citizens stay away destroy damage or loot your shop.”

Coupled with a slew of fake news and misinformation, such orchestrated protests (that have turned violent in the past) are unlikely to improve the situation in Zimbabwe, which has long been burdened by EU and US sanctions.

Fake news is often geared towards pursuing a narrow political agenda, by galvanizing a population into anger or political action, but many argue this can only weaken democracy in the long term.

Recently the BBC took on the subject matter in a story entitled Is Facebook Undermining Democracy in Africa, describing how the social media giant allowed its platform to be weaponized for co-ordinated misinformation and systematic deception campaigns.

Pointing out that Facebook is beloved by younger Africans, who form the majority of the electorate in most African countries and are most likely to be influenced online, the article quoted Rebecca Enonchong, a Cameroonian tech entrepreneur, as saying: “People that use these networks actually feel that this information is coming from Facebook, not realizing that it’s a third party putting the information there.”

In fact, in a new report, Facebook has said it saw “a steep increase in the creation of abusive, fake accounts” and removed more than three billion in the six months from October to March.

Any political weaponizing of fake news, certainly in a case such as Zimbabwe’s, could bring about a serious obstruction to a much-needed reform process.

By Tony Mallett for EU Reporter

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