Graham Hopwood, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy, said that artificial intelligence-generated deepfakes and voice cloning, as well as topics such as immigration, race, gender and nationalism, are exacerbated by disinformation.
This creates a “we vs. them” divisive story.
He claimed it was worsened and washed through legal sources such as influencers, local media and think tanks to make it more reliable. “The growing trend is to rush to judge and often bounce back to false conclusions. In this world, fact-checking is becoming more and more important, if not absolutely important.
“A fact-checking culture encourages critical thinking, encourages voters to question sources, examine context and verify information. These skills extend beyond elections and into daily civic life,” Hopwood noted.
During the release of the Counterling #Election Survey this week, IPPR announced from the study that many false and inaccurate information was observed in last year’s Parliament and presidential elections.
This included political parties that disrupt each other’s collapsing campaigns. Meanwhile, even after the 2024 election, disinformation in Namibia was on the rise. There is an overwhelming circulation of fake cabinet lists, fake community governor appointments, and social media smear campaigns that seek to influence cabinet appointments.
This was often done using the logo and format of a reliable media outlet.
Hopwood emphasized the need to view fact-checking as a shared citizen value essential to democracy and problem-solving. “Today, we can talk about possible responses to this: the education system is important, media literacy is important, and it’s important to encourage critical thinking,” he emphasized.
Editors of IPPR’s Namibia Fact Check Project Frederico Links advised that election misconceptions and disinformation can be addressed through resolutions 160 and 161 by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR).
The first is developing guidelines to help states monitor technology companies regarding their obligation to maintain information integrity through independent fact-checking.
The latter is a solution to working towards evaluating public interest content in this digital age and developing guidelines to ensure public interest elements for all platforms operating in Africa.
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We recognize that resolutions that have arisen in the wake of all elections on the continent, occurring across the continent in the election context with regard to false and disinformation. Link recommended that the country prioritize digital media information literacy from lowest grade to third grade.
“We need to develop digital media information literacy that teaches people how to identify what trustworthy and incorrect content is. What are lies, propaganda, mistakes and disinformation?” he asked.
Link added that fact-checking does not effectively and impact misinformation or misinformation, but people need to see it for themselves, identify it, evaluate it, and make their own decisions about the information they are encountering.
