Study reveals how politics shapes fact-checking roles in four African countries
A recent study conducted in early 2025 examined how fact-checkers in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa perceive their roles amid differing political systems. It found that political contexts—from authoritarian to democratic—influence the scope and impact of fact-checking, with fact-checkers adapting strategies like prebunking to better inform citizens and bolster democratic resilience.
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A 2025 study reveals that political environments in four African countries shape the roles and challenges of fact-checkers. Researchers interviewed 19 professional fact-checkers from Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa between January and August 2025 to understand how politics influences their work.
The study highlights that in authoritarian contexts like Cameroon, fact-checking tends to be limited, often focusing on less politically sensitive topics such as celebrity rumours. In contrast, more open systems like South Africa allow fact-checkers to engage in broader public service roles, including verification, education, and holding power to account, thereby strengthening democratic resilience.
Kenya and Nigeria, described as hybrid political systems with both democratic features and state repression, present intermediate challenges and opportunities for fact-checkers. Across all four countries, fact-checkers are moving beyond simple true-or-false verdicts toward helping the public critically assess information, using proactive methods such as “prebunking” to warn about common misinformation tactics before exposure.
The study underscores the importance of political context in shaping fact-checking practices in Africa, especially as millions increasingly access news via mobile phones and private messaging platforms where misinformation can spread rapidly and quietly.