Under the Influence - The CINIA Newsletter

FROM THE DIRECTOR’S DESK:

The Summit featured leading researchers, policy activists, industry roleplayers and media practitioners to address pressing issues facing the integrity of the information ecosystem. Featuring over 40 participants, it brought together fact-checkers, researchers, journalists, policy advocates and other key industry figures. Present were representatives from organisations such as Meta, the Independent Electoral Commission, Media Monitoring Africa, the South African National Editors' Forum, and the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies.

You can read more about the Summit here.

This past month also saw a landmark case in the Johannesburg high court that ordered Meta, the company who owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, to remove accounts posting child sexual abuse material (CSAM). In our monthly podcast, we spoke to Emma Sadleir of the Digital Law Company who brought the case to court, about the significance of this ruling and the accountability of big tech companies. You can listen to this episode wherever you find your podcasts, or click here

Best wishes,

Herman

NEW RESOURCE: COUNTERING ELECTORAL DISINFORMATION PLAYBOOK

The rise of electoral disinformation poses a serious threat to democratic processes across Africa, distorting public discourse and undermining trust in elections. To help civil society, journalists, and election observers confront these challenges, we are excited to share the MEDiA Countering Electoral Disinformation Playbook, a comprehensive toolkit designed to detect, expose, and counter digital influence operations.

Developed as part of the Mapping Electoral Disinformation in Africa (MEDiA) project, the Playbook distils more than a decade of expertise from Code for Africa’s information integrity teams, who have worked across 28 African countries. It offers practical strategies for building information resilience, monitoring media ecosystems, and identifying harmful narratives that threaten electoral integrity.

PODCAST: FOR FACTS’ SAKE EP 2 - THE SOUTH AFRICAN LAWYER WHO TOOK ON BIG TECH

When Meta failed to shut down Instagram accounts and WhatsApp Channels spreading child sexual abuse content in South Africa, a brave media lawyer took them to court and won. She explains why she did it.

PODCAST: FOR FACTS’ SAKE EP 1 - BEYOND CYNICISM: EMPOWERING YOUNG SOUTH AFRICANS AS CRITICAL MEDIA CONSUMERS

Misinformation is increasingly threatening public discourse, including on South African university campuses. A new study, by Prof Herman Wasserman and Dr Dani Madrid-Morales, found that students either become discerning media users or develop a deep cynicism. In this first episode of For Facts’ Sake, we investigate effective strategies for teaching misinformation literacy.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

1. As world leaders prepare for the G20 Summit in Johannesburg this November, South African journalism advocates are working to ensure that media freedom and information integrity aren’t left off the agenda. In an article for the Institute for Security Studies, CINIA researcher Karen Allen highlights how two local organisations are leading the Media20 (M20) initiative to push these critical issues into the spotlight.

2. In an effort to combat information disorder in Ghana and the wider Gulf of Guinea, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) convened 25 journalists and bloggers for a training on fact-checking and conflict-sensitive reporting. The UNDP emphasised that, given the influence journalists wield in the public space, it is essential they are equipped with the tools and skills to report ethically, truthfully, and responsibly.

3. Meta is coming under renewed scrutiny from African fact checkers, who assert that the tech giant is allowing misinformation to go unchecked on its platforms. According to Nigerian organisation, the International Centre for Investigative Reporting there is a “wider pattern of weak content moderation across Africa, where AI-generated misinformation and scam ads often go unchecked for extended periods.”

BOOK LAUNCH - WHATSAPP IN THE WORLD

At the end of the recent CINIA Information Integrity Summit, we hosted the launch of WhatsApp in the World a new book edited by Sahana Udupa from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and Herman Wasserman.

Through field-based and multidisciplinary research, it highlights how core features of the platform have allowed for the amplification of disinformation and free speech.

Prof Udupa says, “Our book presents a global view of this hugely important communication form. Through different global case studies, we understand that encrypted messaging is full of contradictions, and a grounded perspective will help us see how to address extreme speech on the platform.”

You can read WhatsApp in the World, with a free open access, here.

ABOUT CINIA

In an era where the digital media ecology and social polarization fuels the rapid spread of disinformation, the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CINIA) stands at the forefront of safeguarding democratic values and societal trust across the continent.

To learn more about CINIA and the type of work done by the center, you can visit our website.

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