Kirubel Tesfaye, a fact-checker at HaqCheck, spearheads a workshop for journalists and university students in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, in 2024. (Photo courtesy of HaqCheck)
WASHINGTON — In the volatile dance of geopolitics, misinformation weaves a dangerously seductive tapestry across social media platforms. Consider last year’s rising tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia: a video claimed to show Egyptian troops training on Somali soil. The clip rapidly garnered 34,000 views on the social media platform X, but alas, it was a palpable fallacy. Fact-checkers unveiled its antiquity, unrelated to the current discord.
Yet, was this just an errant anomaly? Of course, not. Ethiopia — like many nations — is no stranger to the ceaseless tides of misinformation and disinformation. It’s a troubling global psychodrama. Research suggests hostile actors propagate such falsehoods to exacerbate conflicts, sow seeds of doubt, and eventually, erode public trust in venerable institutions — be they governmental, nonprofit, or journalistic.
Who then wields the Herculean task of untangling these deceptive threads? Primarily, it’s news organizations or specialized fact-checking initiatives that leap into the fray, wielding truth as their sword. However, the recent withdrawal of certain fact-checking tools by Meta, like CrowdTangle, alongside its termination of a Facebook fact-check program in the U.S. earlier this year, has sounded alarm bells. Experts worry over the waning arsenal to confront the rise of hate speech and disinformation.
In Ethiopia, a cadre of specialists is pursuing additional training to adeptly identify and debunk these false or skewed narratives. Take Netsanet Tesfaye, a communications specialist who had already mastered digital tools such as Google’s reverse image search. However, confronted by the malicious speed at which doctored visuals could inflame tensions, he chose to enhance his skills.
Netsanet turned to HaqCheck, an Ethiopian organization birthed four years prior. He said, “Fake information wreaks havoc on organizations and national stability. Techniques to spread such folly have evolved — from trifling rumors to sophisticated deep fakes and AI manipulations. Thus, understanding available countermeasures became imperative.”
HaqCheck boasts an impressive record of identifying and discrediting thousands of misleading online posts, notes Kirubel Tesfaye, the group’s lead fact-checker. But their mission extends beyond mere verification. The organization actively trains others as well.
“Joining HaqCheck opened my eyes to the darker recesses of social media,” Kirubel shared. “Daily, I’m astounded by the extreme lengths some will go to cloak deceit as truth.”
One can’t help but ask: what predisposes this digital age to such contagions? Many of the falsehoods Kirubel and his indefatigable crew encounter are rooted in Ethiopia’s internal conflicts, territorial disputes, and diplomatic tensions, notably surrounding the tumultuous negotiations over North Western State of Somalia’s port.
“We frequently find manipulations of official speeches by the prime minister and government representatives,” Kirubel added.
The Perilous Path of Disinformation
With a terrain as lush with connectivity as Ethiopia’s, social media platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and Telegram become conduits for misinformation. However, each carries its own suite of challenges.
A 2023 Amnesty International report directly implicates Meta, the parent of Facebook, in abetting human rights abuses against Ethiopia’s Tigrayan community. Alarming, isn’t it? The report claims Facebook’s algorithms amplified harmful rhetoric and that its moderation systems floundered spectacularly.
Amnesty’s findings are stark: “Facebook, widely regarded as a reliable news source, saw its algorithms catalyze devastating human rights repercussions for Tigrayans.” Concerns intensified after Facebook labeled Ethiopia a high-risk site for violence in late 2021, deploying technology to flagged hate speech in its dominant dialects.
Yet, the following year, British digital research firms discovered posts saturated with hate speech still slipped through Facebook’s nets, echoing warnings from Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the UN’s former special adviser on genocide prevention.
So what happens next, as Meta recalibrates its strategy? In the U.S., measures are retracting. Facebook’s iconic Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to cease its third-party fact-checking initiative stateside: “Fact-checkers appear politically biased, decreasing trust rather than cultivating it, particularly here in the U.S.” In its place, a more expansive community notes framework will be slowly integrated.
What lies ahead? Zuckerberg posits that, globally, content policy shifts are brewing. Following persistent governmental persuasion, coronavirus misinformation alerts were annexed to pandemic-related and vaccine discussions on Facebook and Instagram. Some critiques vanished.
When reached by VOA’s Horn of Africa Service, Meta disclosed forthcoming changes, concentrating initially on the U.S. with a promise to “meticulously evaluate” obligations before extending updates internationally.
The Fact-Checker’s Arsenal
Turning back to Ethiopia, HaqCheck remains undeterred. Their fact-checkers tap a variety of digital instruments, one of which was the now-extinct CrowdTangle. This tool adeptly parsed public content, but Meta, citing an incomplete perspective, decommissioned it.
“It was invaluable for tracing info across Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit,” Kirubel reminisced. “Now, with its absence, we’ve resorted to manual monitoring via keywords.”
Other tools remain in the arsenal. InVid assists in determining when and where imagery was disseminated or distorted. Beyond combating disinformation, HaqCheck prioritizes training journalists, communication professionals, and academics in these methods, recognizing Ethiopia’s unique vulnerabilities.
Netsanet stated poignantly, “Deceptive narratives can sundown harmonious ethnic coexistence and jeopardize national security. In escalating conflicts, misinformation is gasoline. Fact-checking is a guardian against such perils.”
To reach the public, HaqCheck disseminates validated reports across its website, social media channels, and even local television.
This narrative was initiated by VOA’s Horn of Africa Service.
Edited By Ali Musa Axadle Times International–Monitoring
