Advocacy groups, spearheaded by National Online Safety Coalition, under the #FWDwithFacts campaign, have voiced concerns regarding Meta’s recent decision to end partnerships with third-party fact-checkers.
Speaking on behalf of the National Online Safety Coalition on Friday in Abuja, Ms Shirley Ewang stressed the devastating implications of the move, particularly for Nigeria and other African countries already grappling with the deadly effects of misinformation.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), reports that Meta had recently announced the termination of its third-party fact-checking partnerships in the United States, opting to replace them with a “Community Notes” system.
This new approach allows users to collaboratively add context and clarifications to potentially misleading posts across platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Threads.
According to its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, this change aims to reduce what he perceives as excessive censorship, stating that the previous reliance on independent fact-checkers had led to the suppression of harmless contents and impeded free expression.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the development has sparked significant controversy, with critics arguing that eliminating professional fact-checkers could facilitate the spread of misinformation and hate speeches.
Advocacy groups, including the National Online Safety Coalition’s #FWDwithFacts campaign, have expressed grave concerns over the potential risks associated with this policy shift.
Also, some of Meta’s fact-checking partners have reported being blindsided by the abrupt end to their collaborations, raising questions about the future of fact-checking initiatives and the fight against misinformation on social media platforms.
According to Ewang, as Meta steps down from its responsibility, it leaves a void that will fuel the spread of falsehoods, deepen divisions and cost lives.
“African governments must act now to protect their citizens and preserve the integrity of democracy,” she said.
Ewang said the coalition highlighted past incidents of misinformation causing real-world harm, including ethnic conflicts in Plateau in 2018 and the spread of divisive falsehoods during Nigeria’s 2023 elections.
“We noted that social media platforms like Facebook and WhatsApp, with tens of millions of Nigerian users, remain central to the country’s information ecosystem and can be weaponised without adequate fact-checking and content moderation,” she said.
According to her, the coalition calls on African governments to demand transparency from tech platforms on their misinformation strategies, establish laws holding tech companies accountable for harmful content.
The coalition, she said, also urged African governments to partner with civil society to promote media literacy, educate citizens on identifying fake news and develop culturally-sensitive content moderation policies to prevent harm.
Ewang reiterated that fact-checking was not censorship but a safeguard against societal harm, urging Meta to reinstate its programmes and for African leaders to implement regulatory frameworks.
“The stakes are too high to allow the dissemination of misinformation to go unchecked,” she said. (NAN)
Abujah Racheal
