Accra, Ghana — The violent dispute in northern Ghana was intensely local. As the report described it, it was a “sporadic ethnic conflict between the Kusasis and Mamprusis over rights to the Bawku chieftaincy skin (throne).” 

What concerned fact-checking journalists from across Africa was that the violence was being spurred and coordinated via social media. 

“For over two years, a violent inter-ethnic and chieftaincy conflict has had Bawku in a chokehold. Hundreds have been killed and adverse effects on socio-economic development have impacted daily life in Bawku,” the report from GhanaFact said. “A close to one-year-long open-source digital investigation of some social media pages, groups, and individual accounts shows an obvious weaponization of social media – WhatsApp, Facebook, and TikTok – in perpetuating the conflict.”

Rabiu Alhassan, GhanaFact’s managing editor, presented the report and how it came together to a full room of fact-checkers at the annual Africa Facts conference, held in October in Accra, where GhanaFact is based. The conference brings together regional fact-checkers to network and exchange best practices. 

Alhassan walked the audience through how journalists identified, documented and archived the social media posts; mapped episodes of violence across time; and collaborated with other journalists to document the violence.

In its conclusion, the report took a cue from the solutions journalism movement to offer recommendations for the government, regulatory agencies, civil society and tech companies, including increased monitoring and enforcement of existing laws and standards. 

After the presentation, Alhassan told me the session drew broad interest because the underlying dynamics have been noted in other conflicts.

“The similarity of our problems on the continent in relation to ineffective platform moderation, be it spreading of hate speech, doxxing and inciting people to violence became evident. I had colleagues reaching out from South Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria, and encouraging us to collaborate in highlighting these challenges,” Alhassan said. 

In addition to Alhassan’s session, other conference panels focused on elections and election fact-checking coalitions; fact-checking in areas with low literacy and lack of data; platform transparency and data access across Africa; best mental health practices for fact-checkers and journalists; and fact-checking health-related topics. (As director of the International Fact-Checking Network, I presented the benefits of adhering to the IFCN Code of Principles’ high standards of transparency and nonpartisanship, while my colleague Alanna Dvorak presented on effective grant writing.)

Africa’s regional diversity

One of the conference’s other distinctions was showing the diversity of Africa’s many geographic regions. Sessions showcased work from French-speaking fact-checkers doing work in countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, as well as North African fact-checking projects in Arabic in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. The Africa Facts network reports that 28% of its current member organizations operate primarily in French, and 23% in Arabic.

Fact-checkers in both communities shared key insights during their respective panel discussions, said Ahmed Khorwat, community manager of the Arab Fact-Checkers Network. A French-speaking panel focused on bad actors that willfully spread misinformation, while the North African fact-checkers discussed digital challenges. The two panels “offered surprising depth, particularly regarding the unique misinformation dynamics in conflict zones, the imposed political challenges on fact-checkers, and the role of digital platforms in managing public information adding an extra layer of safety,” he said.

Paul-Joël Kamtchang, a data journalist from Cameroon and secretary general of the Plateforme Africaine des Fact-checkers Francophones (African platform of French-speaking fact-checkers), said this year’s conference was important in raising the profile of fact-checking in French. He noted that French fact-checkers are concerned about access to resources such as grants and tech tools. Some resources are only available in English, while some tools are unaffordable.

“Economic insecurity and the absence of viable business models in the media do not help them to access paid tools,” he said. 

One specific outcome of the conference was that 50 fact-checking organizations signed a declaration committing to key actions to uphold information integrity. The declaration emphasized concerns specific to African fact-checkers, such as politically sensitive environments, vulnerable online and offline communities, linguistic diversity, public distrust in the media, and resource limitations.

Organized by the South Africa-based fact-checking group Africa Check, the Oct. 9-10 conference was co-hosted by Dubawa, a Nigerian newsroom under the Center for Journalism Innovation and Development and GhanaFact, which operates as part of FactSpace West Africa.

Noko Makgato, Africa Check’s executive director based in Johannesburg, noted in his opening remarks that fact-checkers were overcoming obstacles as they did their work across the continent.

“We are steadily marching towards a future where every country has an organization championing evidence-based, high-quality information,” he said. “As a network, we must work to build public trust by maintaining rigor and producing high-quality work, remembering at all times that we serve our communities and not ourselves.”