THE CABLE
It’s a few hours to the general elections in Nigeria and the disinformation campaign has become rife both online and offline. With the information overload on social media, Nigerians are battling with what is true or not.
Many of these political candidates also enjoy great followership on social media, which serves as a primary source of information for many.
Disinformation has become a tool for political propaganda with the goal of swaying the electorate. Disinformation peddlers are resorting to tactics such as distorting quotes, fabricating statements and altering videos to mislead the public. They do this by taking comments out of context or selectively editing them, to either tarnish the reputation of their political rivals or to falsely promote their preferred candidates and increase their popularity.
Readers who have no idea about verification believe whatever they see hook, line and sinker.
DEMARKETING DISINFORMATION
On January 19, a tweet by an account named APC presidential campaign council accused Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), of being “a merchant of fake news”. The account uploaded a video alongside the tweet to justify its accusation and further went on to upload a video by @FRANCE24, an international news medium, to bolster its claim.
The post was retweeted 721 times with 1,331 likes.
The APC presidential campaign council account wrote: “Even foreign media are confirming that Peter Obi is a merchant on fake news: @FRANCE24”.
Connect with us on our socials: