fact-checking

  • Weekly Newsletter on the Ongoing Infodemic: May 4, 2020

    In this article, we analysed posts that seemed to contain pieces of misinformation in circulation using CrowdTangle, Google Factcheck Explorer Tool, Facebook Fact-checking Tool and Tweetdeck, published between January and the end of April 2020 in Nigeria. Disclaimer: This article does not claim to have reviewed all viral contents within the timeframe, owing to limited time and resources.

    Could understanding Covid-19 trends in Nigeria help you stay safe?

    In Nigeria, mis- and dis-information preceded the virus. In January, there was no recorded case in the country; however, global news had slowly started to create a sense of impending doom in the minds of Nigerians. Over 3,157 posts on Facebook pages contained the words coronavirus, covid-19 or “colomavilus.” Twitter also recorded a similar feat in the last five days of January alone. Most of these posts centred on awareness of the pandemic (then considered an epidemic) or partisan views about the nature of the virus. Platform users with strong religious affiliations expressed sharp disdain for China who they believed “brought the plague” upon themselves to deflect attention for allegedly killing Muslims or banning the niqab.

    Fake cures were not yet widespread; but by February, when the NCDC confirmed the first case, misinformation took on a life of its own, attacking the cells of the online society- just as the virus itself. Unsurprisingly, the WHO labelled the spread of fake news on the outbreak an “infodemic” which would only become worse in the following months. Unverified information about the origin, properties and transmission of the virus to death-causing preventive measures and bizarre conspiracies became prevalent.

    To better understand the evolving phenomenon, fact-checkers around the world sought to categorise it based on the varied nature of the content, actors (fake news purveyors) create and share; the motivations of those who create this content; and the ways the said actors disseminate such material. After all, the saying goes, ”a problem understood is half solved.” 

    As authorities tried to make sense of the novel coronavirus, the volume and diversity of misinformation grew from 3,157 posts containing the keywords on Facebook pages in January to 14,845 Facebook-posts in February; 114,066 posts in March; and 153,270 posts in April. There are no total numbers for Twitter, but it is highly probable that there has been an increase on that platform as well. While the total number of posts cannot be considered false, a large number of them turned out to be unverified at the time of publication. However, based on our analysis of the Nigerian situation, two distinct types of misleading content are emerging.

    Fake news about the nature of the virus: Its origins, properties and transmission

    Most of the viral claims, in reality, are seldom entirely wrong; there’s usually a foundation of truth from which all sorts of stories emerge. More so, the absence of real information at the outset of the outbreak led many people to fill the information gap with their theories and conspiracies.

    For angry Nigerians, Chinese people who eat just about anything created this virus. And, the fact that the Chinese people were acting as racists towards Nigerians made matters worse. Viral videos emerged showing Chinese nationals “biting the heads off living frogs and eating the entrails of the frogs at China’s ‘wet market’ where coronavirus reportedly originated from,” according to an excerpt from a news headline. There’s no evidence to prove that this is a recent video or that the virus came from a frog as inferred in the post. Another article claims that a Chinese man was spotted eating a live bat and mouse. The accompanying video showed “a woman” eating a “cooked creature” that seemed to be a bat and another man eating a live rodent.

    While anger may be a justifiable emotion in this situation, false information about the origin of the virus will not help scientists identify the exact source and develop vaccines that can prevent future deaths.

    Other conspiracy theorists shared claims that the virus was either created by Bill Gates as part of his depopulation agenda (read more in this article) or by the Chinese government in a selfish bid to overthrow the United States. Or by the American government through the CIA as part of an economical hybrid war against China.

    One of the most intriguing was the speculation that the nature of the virus and the composition of the African blood (skin) make Africans resistant to the virus. Actors premised their claims on a Cameroonian student who survived infection from the virus because of his blood. While such claims took Africa a while to pay adequate attention to the evolving global health crisis. Under the spell of this false claim,  it has gained recent cases of infections from the virus and resultant deaths in Nigeria to disprove this claim.

    Closely linked to the above is false or misleading information about where the virus spreads and who spreads it. Again, people started by claiming that the virus couldn’t survive in hot weather, despite WHO’s decision to devote an entire webpage to debunk such myths. And a more malicious claim surfaced about a taxi driver threatening to spread the disease. The story was widely circulated on all platforms, disregarding the man’s safety.

    Misleading content about treatment: Cures and preventive measures

    Health care systems in the world are battling with the burden the pandemic has brought and are trying desperately to manage the crisis. So also are medical professionals, especially lab scientists who have devoted most of their lives to analysing a wide variety of specimens that identify and treat diseases. If after all the deaths, they cannot confirm a cure, why do we believe that particular food will do the job?

    One would assume that Nigerians would have learned from the Ebola crisis; it seems not. With heightened fear and confusion, wrong information about cures and preventive measures have become the most common. Sadly, these can have real and immediate consequences.

    Most of the garlic and salt-related claims combine both correct and false information. Garlic, the power-cure for the season, can lead to death by overdose, that is if we follow the prescription of the unidentified “Whatsapp doctor”. An immune-boosting food should not be likened to a cure or marketed as a drug that prevents the virus, whether mistakenly or for commercial purposes or social media popularity. For instance, this account lists several foods that can purportedly help you avert coronavirus; this was inaccurate.

    While there is, some truth to the role of foods in building immunity, the consumption rests on the state of the individual, say, scientists. If you’re healthy, then taking supposed immune boosters may prove counterproductive. Moreover, no matter how good a particular food is, it shouldn’t be taken excessively as most of the claims suggest. Worse still, these messages could make people careless and flout other health recommendations such as maintaining a healthy lifestyle, sanitising and practising social distancing.

    Similarly, on April 4th, a Nigerian newspaper reported how a Nigerian based in Ireland, John Obabola, who just tested negative for coronavirus, recovered. He purportedly used paracetamol, lemon, ginger and garlic to cure the disease. In the article, however, Obabola said he only survived the virus because he went in for treatment early enough and did not have underlying health issues.

    Multiple videos viewed tens of thousands of times on Facebook also claimed that onions could prevent and even cure an infection of the novel coronavirus. The same video has been shared here, here and here. According to AFP, as of March 21, 2020, WHO had 48 candidate vaccines in the preclinical evaluation and two in the clinical assessment as a cure for COVID-19. None of the 50 candidates is onion, garlic or lemon. 

    And then the claims about citrus fruits: from boiling the peels to the WhatsApp message that affirms that coronavirus has pH range 5.5 to 8.5, with which people can counteract infections from the virus by just consuming fruits to neutralise the pH activity. Or hot baths, hot hand dryers and any kind of heat, allegedly will suffice; not to mention, the allegation that constant sex kills coronavirus! Elsewhere, actors are peddling information that US scientists and other Nigerian scientists have created coronavirus vaccines. 

    What is interesting about the range or intensity of covid-19 misinformation is that existing false narratives were rarely ever wholly fabricated. Most often, correct information was spun, twisted, recontextualised, or reworked, making it more difficult to question and more natural to appeal to our sentiments. With the Federal Government’s partial lifting of the lockdown, such wrong narratives should not be promoted so that people do not get comfortable with fake cures; or disregard safety requirements and end up infecting and killing others.

    Coronavirus Q & A 

    • Why is coronavirus called covid19?

    First of all, coronaviruses are not new. Coronavirus disease is the official term for members of a group of viruses known to cause respiratory infections in humans, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). However, COVID-19 is new, and the more scientific name is “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)” as named by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), the body responsible for classifying viruses. The term COVID-19 is an abbreviation; ‘CO’ stands for ‘corona,’ ‘VI’ for ‘virus,’ and ‘D’ for disease and 19 for the year it occurred. So you can say “2019 novel coronavirus” or “COVID-19” if you like.

    Fun fact: Coronaviruses are composed of genetic material surrounded by a round envelope that has protein spikes on the outside that resemble the spikes on a crown, the metal headgear worn by many monarchs across the world. “Crown” in Latin is “corona,” hence the name coronavirus.

    • When was coronavirus discovered?

    Coronavirus was first discovered as an acute respiratory infection of domesticated chickens in the 1930s. Human coronaviruses were later discovered in the 1960s. Since 2003, at least 5 new human coronaviruses have been identified, including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS), which also originated in China and caused significant morbidity and mortality. The most recent coronavirus (COVID-19) is traced to alleged patient zero who became ill on  December 1st 2019, although more evidence traces its existence back to as early as November 2019.

    • Has Madagascar found a cure?

    Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has recommended an organic medicine to cure COVID-19 patients in his country. ”All trials and tests have been conducted, and its effectiveness has been provided in reducing and eliminating symptoms from COVID-19 patients in Madagascar,” said the president. But the World Health Organization (WHO) in a statement has warned against any self-medication; also stating that no current medicine exists as a cure for COVID-19.

    The presumed cure is a form of herbal tea called Covid Organics (CVO). Madagascar has 128 confirmed COVID-19 cases so far, with no deaths, and 82 recoveries. To determine if this is really a cure, we will need to observe the direct effects on the patients over time and after several post-treatment tests.

    • Will Coronavirus affect the stock market?

    Most definitely. The more poignant question is how adverse the effect is or will be on the stock market. The stock market has taken significant hits as fears grow over how the coronavirus might wreak long-term economic havoc. In addition to a volatile stock market, global GDP growth has begun to slow in response to the outbreak, and oil prices have significantly decreased because of an oil glut. As unpredictable as the situation is, even in the most optimistic scenario, it is likely to have a material short-term impact on GDP growth, according to economists.

    Tip of the week 

    #FakeNews Alert 

    There have been discussions on social media suggesting the death of the head of IPOB, Indigenous People Of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. While some believe the story, others reject the current news. However, there has not been any credible report that supports the claim, which raises suspicions on its integrity. Besides, the source of this claim has a record of spreading misinformation. 

    Do not share these messages without confirming from credible sources. If the news is true, it’s going to be on major news platforms in the country. 

    Another Case of Sensational Headline! The message in this headline differs from the body of the story. This buttresses why you should not trust headlines, always read the entire text. Since the discovery of clickbait as a marketing tactic, online news platforms use misleading headlines to attract readers. Always read through an article and be sure its body texts agree with the headline. Also, cross-check with other credible sources; this takes a short time, I assure you!

  • Weekly Newsletter on the Ongoing Infodemic: April 27, 2020

    The Gates and The GateKeepers

    Over the years, the Gates family have been the subject of numerous controversies, mostly because of their extensive support for vaccination. Vaccination has become a much-debated and sometimes hate-filled topic that has made major social media platforms update their policies to tackle the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation. Although there is a scientific, ethical, political and even religious premise to anti-vaccinationists’ arguments, some studies suggest that these assertions are baseless. For instance, researchers found a financial motivation to the popular theory that MMR vaccine causes autism, for which the authors have been accused of falsifying data. 

    In 2010, the Gateses announced, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that they plan to spend $10 billion on vaccine development and deployment over the next decade. “We must make this the decade of vaccines,” Microsoft founder Bill Gates said. In 2015, Bill Gates gave a now-viral TEDTalk on the possibility of a pandemic affecting nations in the future.

    Thus, it is no surprise that over the past week, Bill and Melinda Gates were the centre of attention. Amidst allegations of  Covid-19 being the result of a Wuhan lab experiment, the Gates’ (alongside the Obama administration) are being blamed for funding coronavirus research in Wuhan and indirectly causing the spread of the virus. On Tuesday, documents containing 277 email addresses from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, 20 from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), and nearly 7,000 from the World Health Organization were leaked online. All three organisations have been the subject of conspiracy theories that blame them for the spread of the coronavirus.

    Further implicating Bill Gates in the 5G-Covid-19 debacle, a Facebook user claims that Bill Gates, a confirmed Freemason, is using vaccination to implant microchips in people, ultimately introducing the biblically forewarned 666 movements. Worse still, the post amassed over 66.1 thousand views. Another Facebook user twists the words of Bill Gates in an opinion piece resembling a news article. He claims that “Bill Gates suggests depopulation in Africa to reduce pressure on Europe” through his vaccines that secretly sterilise millions of Kenyan women. However, Africa Check revealed that not only is the sterilisation claim more than 20 years old but that the World Health Organization and others have repeatedly debunked it. 

    Perhaps it’s as a result of these allegations that Melinda Gates decided to divorce her husband – an entirely made-up story that prompted a factcheck by Dubawa. Very recently, Melinda Gates granted an interview with CNN’s Poppy Harlow, where she detailed the Foundation’s plans to develop a vaccine as a means to end the pandemic. 

    Two things to note about false information that was evident in most of the outlined claims – (1) Authors provide little or no information around the event serving as the foundation for their clams (2) wrong information is rarely entirely fabricated; instead, it’s an overstretch of a real event.

    The Gatekeepers

    “Eneke the bird says that since men have learned to shoot without missing, he has learned to fly without perching.”

    ― Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart

    The reality of the current media space is such that a wide range of actors can be classified as news organisations, whether by their certifications or mere practise of posting news items consistently, thereby creating a brand previously regulated by journalism. This leeway has led to increased fluidity between trusted and untrusted sources of information. Even among the seemingly trusted sources, a further dichotomy exists between verified and unverified information emanating from these sources at various times.

    Sometimes, news organisations inadvertently spread misinformation; other times, actors deliberately and systematically misinform to favour clickbait and “things that appeal to the lowest common denominator”. Recently, Newsflashngr.org published an article on Facebook headlinedUlcer killed our beloved Abba Kyari not coronavirus – Lai Mohammed explains to Nigerians how he died”; however, a simple click of the link leads to a website with different content – and advertisement for scholarships! Newsflashngr.org also published an article on Facebook headlinedBreaking: APC Chairman Adams tests positive to coronavirus, refuses to go into isolation…”; however, the website yet again contains only advertisements! Both articles garnered thousands of views in 24 hours.

    In a similar vein, Dailytimes.ng published an article on Facebook headlinedBoko Haram leader says he’s ready to surrender.” But we find that the keywords in the headline are avoided in the body of the report.  The closest to the statement was “the terror leader, Abubakar Shekau, may soon surrender.”

    Igbowatch, Biafra Republic, Wisereporters.com and “friends of the punch newspaper” simultaneously claimed that Buhari, speaking to journalists, had said that he wanted to resign amidst the coronavirus outbreak. There was no mention of the event or a direct quote from the speech. Interestingly,  this was not the first time these accounts would publish false news. During the 2019 elections, these sites alongside others mentioned in this report shared stories that were sensational, unsourced or incorrect; these news-like items essentially trigger feedback algorithms. While one may argue, theoretically, that ethical news channels hold sole responsibility for gatekeeping; practically, this is unfeasible. This is especially true when we realise that we live in a world where “fake news” often competes with “real news,” and blogs and online mediums pretend to be certified news reporters. And by their actions, they have now assumed the role of gatekeepers; thus controlling information flow and shaping public discourse and decisions. Hence, we humans (and other actors who pass the “I am not a robot” test) must become their gatekeepers, creating a filter of information for their sanity and survival.

    Coronavirus Q & A 

    How is Nigeria fairing in testing for COVID-19?

    It has been established by the World Health Organization and acknowledged by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) that to halt the further spread of the pandemic, there has to be a high intensity of testing for the virus.  

    Meanwhile, Nigeria has 12 functional testing facilities in eight states with a capacity to conduct a minimum of 1,500 tests per day in Lagos and 1,000 tests per day in FCT and other states. Consequently, 2,500 tests are held daily in the country.

    However, the country has plans to scale up testing as the epidemic intensifies.

    Are COVID-19 corpses contagious? 

    SARS-CoV-2 (the proper name for the coronavirus responsible for COVID-19) can remain infectious on different surfaces for varying amounts of time. SARS-CoV-2 has also been detected in respiratory, faecal and blood specimens. Although NCDC has made it known that the dead bodies of COVID-19 patients are generally not infectious, there is still a potential risk of transmission if there is direct contact with human remains or bodily fluids where the virus is present, or direct contact with contaminated fomites.

    Can babies be infected with COVID-19?

    Yes. While there have been reports of some babies infected with the virus, adults constitute the majority of confirmed cases. Therefore, adults and children alike are susceptible to the virus. Nevertheless, the WHO has identified people who are at a higher risk, and they are not infants.

    What does coronavirus do to your body?

    The virus develops in stages. During the incubation period, the virus gets into your body when you breathe it in or touch a contaminated surface and then your face. It attaches its spiky surface proteins to the cells lining your throat, airways and lungs and keeps reproducing. An infected person may not have symptoms at this stage.

    Later, the virus becomes more visible as your body tries to fight off the foreign body. Body aches, sore throats, a headache and dry cough, are common symptoms. At this stage, water, rest and some antibiotics can help as your immune system fights off the virus.

    If the disease progresses, it moves to the severe stage where there’s too much inflammation in the lungs of those infected. At this stage, some people will need a ventilator to breathe. And at the critical stage, organs in the body begin to shut down, and there is a real chance of death. 

    (This is a simplification of a complex phenomenon. For more details, read this article)

    What can you do? 

    Be alert, share our tip and don’t share false news! 

    #FakeNews Alert 

    It’s quite mainstream that anyone, irrespective of age, is susceptible to the infectious disease and babies have been reported to have contracted the virus. Nonetheless, it is important to be suspicious of claims about people who have been infected if credible news platforms or relevant authorities do not publish it. We do not want a repeat of previous incidents where people consume an overdose of natural foods (garlic) or salt in a frenzied bid to prevent death.

    The best time to attract a broad readership to your news platform is now! Everyone is at home or should be at home (except essential workers) and the average time spent on internet devices has increased. Hence, news platforms are struggling for your attention by using catching headlines that are either untrue or misleading. In this case, the WHO suggested that the virus “most likely has an animal origin and ecological reservoir from bats”. This is not a fact yet as the headline suggests.

    While there has been news of mysterious deaths in Kano, it is yet to be established that the cause is the novel coronavirus. Therefore, as the country is battling the infectious disease, tweeting about a community transmission is logical speculation but not factual. However, in order not to raise unnecessary panic, do not share until verified.

  • Weekly Newsletter on the Ongoing Infodemic: April 20, 2020

    For most of last month, news columns were filled with sponsors doling out billions of Naira to the Nigerian government. But who exactly is getting the money? How much is it? What projects are being implemented? And if you don’t have access to the funds, what home remedies can you do to cheat death?

    Infodemic and crises: often inseparable

    A look at trends in Nigeria shows that fear, confusion and hope trump logic during socio-political, economic, religious or public health crises. In truth, during the 2013 general elections, a significant number of killings were perpetrated by young men (politically motivated thugs). This group then successfully encouraged voters to boycott the polls in some states; a feat that has remained a constant feature in all Nigerian elections till date. Economic inequality and government unaccountability have exacerbated secessionist movements in later years; while Ebola and the current Covid-19 pandemic led to a spike in inconceivable fake cures that have proven fatal.

    Financial accountability

    Because the Nigerian system is often perverse to inquiries, full disclosure by public office holders and susceptible to emotional sways, the odds for false information are high. When news reports surfaced about several donations of about N43 Billion to provide beds for isolation centres, intensive care unit facilities and direct access to medical advice; Nigerians’ rainbow of hope turned to a mere display of colours after fire gutted the office of the Accountant-General. 

    It was no wonder that online media was awash with comparisons between the fire and government mismanagement of funds. Sooner than later, the usual suspects took to meme-making webpages to doll out fake pictures to show that “all the billions donated to tackle covid-19 has been burnt as a result of the fire”. Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Ms Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, was also wrongly quoted to have claimed that the government lost 700 billion naira in donations from individuals to the fire. However, Dubawa debunked both claims, rating them- FALSE.

    Fake cures and False information

    Similarly, the Nigeria Centre for Disease and Control (NCDC) had to refute rumours that it spent 1billion Naira on educating Nigerians about the coronavirus pandemic through SMS/Text Messages. The post, which started circulating on April 8, has been found on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.

    As there are no detailed publicly available records of the use of COVID-19 funds and mixed messages, fake news on social media continues to soar. And so also for preventive measures and fake cures because covid-19 is a novel flu that has never been the focus of medical study until recently. And when scientists discuss as-yet-unproven theories, anxious people can take unnecessary risks.

    From the viral WhatsApp audio message urging Nigerians to eat garlic three times a day to the very explanatory ‘false’ post that Africans are immune to the virus, different variations of cures and preventive measures seem to surface daily. Our recent fact-check shows that other food items – lemon, lime, avocado – also made the list. At this point, one wonders if hope is still a big motivation for these cures or transcendence to financial incentives.

    CORONAVIRUS Q & A 

    What Nigerians are asking
    • Can coronavirus be transmitted through fart?

    At the moment, experts are not sure, although a doctor raised the issue on social media. In his findings, Australian doctor Andy Tagg cited tests carried out earlier this year which showed 55 per cent of patients with SARS-CoV-2 had it present in their faeces. Still, the jury is currently out on this one. And even if it turns out to be accurate, you are way more likely to catch it by being in close contact with someone who coughs or sneezes, or by picking up droplets (from coughs or sneezes) on your hands when you touch a hard surface, except you intend to use your nose to inhale someone’s fart in very close proximity.

    • Can coronavirus survive in the heat?

    Granted, some viruses such as cold and flu viruses spread more quickly in the colder months; still, it does not mean that their activities stop when weather conditions become harsh. As it stands, scientists do not know how temperature changes will influence the behaviour of SARS-CoV-2. Plus, case count in Africa (and Nigeria) shows that coronavirus can survive in hot climates, perhaps not as alarmingly high as colder regions; still, we do not know what other factors could be curtailing its spread.

    • When will coronavirus end?

    No one truly knows, but a lot depends on humans practising social distancing, proper hygiene and other measures that reduce human contact. New York Times says that a better question might be: “How will we know when to reopen the country?” For now, let’s stay at home, self-isolate from others in the household if we feel unwell, and contact NCDC if symptoms persist.

    • What are WHO-recommended coronavirus prevention tips?

    This information is available on the WHO’s website, but in summary: “Most people who become infected experience mild illness and recover, but it can be more severe for others. Take care of your health and protect others by doing the following:

    • Wash your hands frequently
    • Maintain social distancing
    • Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth
    • Practice respiratory hygiene
    • Stay informed and follow the advice given by your local authorities.”

    TIP OF THE WEEK

    #FAKENEWS ALERT

    There’s precious little that we can do about the barrage of misinformation that we see daily, but there’s a lot we can do together if we learn to identify suspicious claims in the news and refrain from fuelling the fire by spreading them! Here are our top picks of likely-to-be-false news which [sadly] couldn’t be fact-checked.

    We added this to our last newsletter, but it’s still in circulation. So we ask again, is it possible to test for a disease over the phone? Has GTBank announced it’s involvement in this? Has there been any news report from credible platforms to corroborate the claim? The answers will tell if the news is genuine or not.

    At the time of this publication, vaccines are still in development, with only a small handful in Phase 1 trials, which involves making sure the vaccine isn’t dangerous to humans. Besides, a similar claim that a vaccine trial resulted in the death of seven children in Senegal turned out false.

    In essence, know a little about medical procedures and you could save yourself from a bit of misinformation 

    Ignoring the spelling errors, when a non-news platform, in its traditional sense, uses the word breaking to disseminate a message on its public page to thousands of viewers with a fake image, the first thing to look out for is the source of the news. As you would assume, there is no citation of a news platform, yet the post garnered 3.6K shares and 609 shares.

  • Working during a crisis is one of the hardest things to do, But fact-checkers are doing it anyway!

    Are you afraid of the world as it is or what could come next? You may not feel terrified or anxious but acknowledge that others do, for legitimate reasons. Life as we know it is changing. People are dying; businesses are retrenching their workers, thus making a global recession imminent. Humans, regardless of race, colour, gender or social class, are being forced to make death-defying decisions or just pause.

    A mandatory long pause.

    But what happens when you’re an essential service and have to work in a fast-paced environment? 0r substitute sleep, safety, tik-toking and family time for the mental strain of repeated exposure to disturbing news and round-the-clock reporting? In Italy that has recorded one of the highest death rates so far (about 17,669 deaths), a journalist speaks

    I think it’s inevitable that I eventually go and do some on-the-ground reporting because that’s what the best version of journalism is, but the trade-offs of doing it have never felt so immense before.”

    Worse still, some people don’t even think you’re essential. New generation critics argue that media coverage and fact-checking are exacerbating public fears and need to stop.

    Yet, even the World Health Organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom, has emphasised that accurate, timely information is essential to fighting COVID-19. This rationale holds as reports suggest that factual information during the initial outbreak in China’s city of Wuhan in December may have resulted in quicker responses by some governments to the emerging contagion. 

    And then, there’s the issue of viral claims about fake cures which threaten to kill as many people as the virus itself.

    In the US, people are spreading false cures and preventive measures like drinking bleach to cure the virus. And some people have adopted such untested measures because they want to find a fast cure. So our [fact-checkers’] hands are falling, typing and searching for data so people can make good decisions… Fact-checkers need to be protected, the work they do is precious”, opined Cristina Tardaguila, the Associate Director of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN). 

    Interestingly, Cristina is leading an alliance of more than 100 fact-checkers from 60+ countries across 43 languages and 16 time zones; the league have debunked around 3,000 hoaxes regarding COVID-19.

    The CoronaVirusFacts/DatosCoronaVirus Alliance is currently helping citizens make better decisions with accurate information.

    I found that the pandemic brought way more work than I bargained for… like a game of whack-a-mole: debunk one piece and two come out in its stead,” says Victor Ndukwe, Editor at Dubawa, a fact-checking project in Nigeria. “Although there’s the cold comfort in knowing that it’s a group effort, several others are slugging it out in over 45 countries.” 

    Recently, a fact-checking organisation in Belgium, Fact-check.Vlaanderen posted an overview article about the most prevalent conspiracy theories in the region. Using Facebook to boost the report, the platform saw their post reach a decent target audience; but not without people accusing the authors of being mainstream-media puppets, covering up the real truth about what is going on.

    Turning lemons to a healthy lemonade, Guy De Pauw feels that authors “now have a pretty good overview of which conspiracy theories are really sticking in the region of Flanders, and just how immune some people are to factual information”. 

    Correctiv in Germany had never experienced such pressure before – about 30 emails per day and 1,500 claims submissions within two weeks.

    There is no socialising in coffee breaks anymore. We were a team of four fact-checkers in March; now we are eight. Because one of our colleagues got infected with coronavirus, we now work from home, constantly chatting via slack or video conferences. We have to and want to go on!”, says Alice Echtermann. 

    At the same time, Full Fact, a UK-based fact-checking organisation that has run around 70 fact-checks on the coronavirus sees it “as a marathon and not a sprint. And because people are facing a lot of challenges, [they] will continue to provide the support [they] can”. 

    Faraway Kenya reports a similar tone of helplessness. Managing Editor at Pesacheck.org, Eric Mugendi explains:

    Having to look at these things over and over again has been quite tiring (and draining), and the fact that, from a distance, we watched it spread elsewhere and we’re now watching it spread here is made worse because people are not complying with the government directives. When Kenya’s first case was confirmed, it became more real for everyone, and now, we are being inundated with requests for information and to verify claims, so we can no longer avoid the news about the disease.”

    Generally, most fact-checking organisations have small teams, and even larger organisations are still struggling.

    Laura Zommer, CEO of Chequeado in Argentina explains that the increase from 2 or 3 articles a day to 35-50 fact-checks per week is hard for her 22-man team. And because this situation is peculiar, fact-checkers have to rethink traditional ways of working.

    Balancing family time and working is difficult, for sure. In the first weeks, it was almost impossible to homeschool the kids, do groceries, cook and other domestic chores that are women’s responsibility in Latin American homes. Thankfully, my team made some rules that encourage colleagues to disconnect for a while at different moments of the day. We encourage the team to take care of themselves and engage in activities related to yoga, meditation and exercise. Obviously, it is not very easy. But at least at this moment, perhaps because we feel that the demand is so high, we realise that it is something that we should do. But we also know that we should be more careful about ourselves; we must take care of ourselves.”

    For all the fact-checkers, journalists and essential workers out there, we say – Hey, that’s some tough work you’re doing. Are you okay?
  • In Pursuit of Truth, the “Week For Truth” Begins Today In Nigeria

    What is true? What is false? Does truth even exist? In a world that acknowledges the limitations of language and the circumstantial nature of events, should the accuracy of statements by politicians, businesswomen [and men] and even individuals alike, matter?

    Regardless of our philosophical, or most times sentimental, differences on the existence of truth, what remains is a common acceptance that false information or fake news could harm just about anybody – young or old, rich or poor. In 2014, two people died and at least twenty were hospitalized, all because of a social media prank urging Nigerians to drink excessive amounts of saltwater to avoid catching the Ebola virus. In 2019, incumbent candidate Muhammadu Buhari was forced to deny reports of his death and subsequent replacement by a clone, a rumour that may have cost him a good number of votes. Although an obviously ridiculous claim, the necessity of a public denial shows how easily fake news can spread.

    The knowledge of this modern-day information dynamics is not lost on the government. Very recently, the 2019 version of an anti-social media bill was read for the second time on the floor of the Nigerian Senate, paving the way for its passage into law. Amongst other provisions, the bill will give the government and its agents the power to decide what constitutes a false statement and shut down the internet to silence dissenting voices.

    “We can talk for hours about the role of tech companies, the government, the media and every other stakeholder in the information industry in fighting misinformation, but an often ignored but essential ingredient is education. By giving people the knowledge and ability to spot potential fake news, you are creating an army of voters who are critical of news they consume from covert and overt sources; people with greater access to information that causes them to challenge leadership; and that’s the kind of people we need in Africa!”, says Ms Ebele Oputa, the Programme Officer/Editor of Dubawa, a project that started in 2018 to help stop the dissemination of misinformation in Nigeria.

    Today marks the start of week-long activities to expand fact-checking and push the gospel of truth to all corners of Nigeria, to bring Nigerians together and offer them information as tools to hold the powerful in the society and by extension themselves accountable. Throughout the week, DUBAWA will be hosting a couple of events across Nigeria to engage young students, professionals, entrepreneurs, online content creators, people on-the-street and ordinary Nigerians in honest, constructive discussions and hands-on activities exploring the intersections between freedom of expression, civic engagement and fact-checking. 

    Follow activities across Nigeria using the hashtags #WeekForTruth, #DubawaChecks, #Stand4Truth. Also, visit Dubawa.org for resources. 

    So does truth really matter? Whether we want to admit it or not, truth affects our lives every day. We owe it to ourselves and our society to get better at recognizing them, using them responsibly and, if necessary, resisting them. Because without valuing the importance of truth, we surrender our reality to others.

    About Dubawa:

    DUBAWA is Nigeria’s first indigenous independent verification and fact-checking project, initiated by the Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), supported by the most influential newsrooms and civic organisations in the country to help amplify the culture of truth in public discourse, public policy, and journalistic practice and guided by the five principles of the International Fact-checking Network (IFCN).

    Dubawa’s mission statement is to institute a culture of truth and verification in public discourse and journalism through strategic partnerships between the media, government, civil society organizations, technology giants and the public. Through its website, dubawa.org regularly publishes fact-checks and articles on politics, health and the economy, as well as in-depth analysis on how these issues affect you.

  • Dubawa: Data, fact-checking antidote to misinformation — Statistician-General

    With fake news increasingly becoming a serious cause for concern for both media professionals and news consumers alike, the need to stymie the circulation of fraudulent information — especially on social media — has become a major responsibility for media experts and policymakers.

    Concerns have mounted in recent months over how hoaxes and misinformation are affecting economic development and national cohesion, with senior government officials scrambling to step up efforts to root out misinformation.

    But while federal and local authorities have roles to play in combatting the phenomenon, the media should take the lead by deploying credible data as one of the best methods of neutralising the threat of fake news, said Yemi Kale, the Director-General of National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    “Data places information in the right perspective so that it is ready to be used in decision-making, therefore the significance of statistical information in supporting evidence-based decision making cannot be over emphasised,” Mr. Kale said Tuesday at the public unveiling of DUBAWA, a fact-checking website.

    “This is the role that data and NBS play by hosting publicly-available reference data and its clear interpretation on nearly every facet of Nigeria’s socio-economic life so that even when fake news inevitably exists, fact-checkers and citizens can readily verify these by
    themselves,” Mr. Kale added.

    Dubawa, which literally means ‘to check’ in Hausa, is a non-partisan verification and rating platform which deploys a multi-pronged approach to curb the upsurge of fake news. The platform would hold to account politicians, media practitioners, public policy and and advocacy experts or institutions who disseminate uncorroborated or widely disputed claims.

    It would also be used as a resource tool by media professionals to investigate and produce facts-based reports.

    Fake news evolved from unsavoury Internet sideshow to serious political and economic threat so rapidly that even communication experts had little time to nip it in the bud.

    There’s little argument about how pervasive fake news and half-truths have become across the Nigerian cyberspace, especially across mushroom and established social media platforms.

    Even more rapid has been how the term“fake news” itself has evolved into an all-around tool for smear tactics, as politicians and other partisan political and business players now maliciously deploy it to ridicule journalistic exploits they find unfavourable.

    Still, as experts explore solutions to the menace, the launch of Dubawa cannot come at a more auspicious time for citizens who place a steady premium on factual and reliable contents that could aide their decision-making needs.

    While facts-based journalism could be a critical component of a stable society, merely fact-checking contents using credible data might not be a sufficient approach to curbing the hazard of fake news, Mr. Kale said.

    For “entities like Dubawa to be successful, there needs to be political and ideological neutrality as well as sufficiently trustworthy data that is reliable and accessible not only to such entities but to which they can refer their users,” the expert said.

    He added that demand for usable data has sparked in recent years not only amongst Nigerians but also foreigners who are exploring business opportunities in a country with estimated 180 million people.

    “Data is vital as it provides clear, objective, and numerical evidence on all aspects of our lives and the state of our country, including the growth and characteristics of our population, economic performance, levels of health and wellbeing and the condition of our surrounding environment.

    “It aids the decision-making process by enabling us to establish numerical benchmarks and to monitor and evaluate the progress of policies or programmes; which in turn ensures that our policy interventions are well designed, effective, and highlight any areas which require improvement,” Mr. Kale said.

    Using a colloquial interpretation of Dubawa, Mr. Kale gave the platform some pieces of advice he said had helped him and his team at the NBS achieve success over the years.

    His blueprint admonished the Dubawa team to ensure diligence, uncompromising, boldness, assertiveness, wariness and accuracy in their various capacities.

    “We launched Dubawa as a response to the influx of fake news that technology has made easier to spread,” said Joshua Olufemi, programme director at Premium Times Centre for Investigative Journalism, the creator of Dubawa. “It is a platform that we believe will bring back the ideals of journalism and also hold accountable those in office by their public statements.”

    Mr. Olufemi said Nigerians and other information seekers with interest about developments in Nigeria can expect to see the data being deployed in pursuit of a more vibrant and rigorous journalism.

    “We may not necessarily depend on data 100 per cent of the time, but the use of statistics in telling stories would constitute most of our activities here,” Mr. Olufemi added. “This is just catching up with emerging techniques in modern storytelling.”

    Additionally, Dubawa, which is supported by the MacArthur Foundation as a way of using the media to create a more accountable society, would serve as a community for members of the public who would stand as active actors in the making of a functioning and accountable democracy.

    The activities of the team would be available at dubawa.org as well as the platforms numerous social media accounts.

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