Disinformation: The new scourge of global economies

During the opening ceremony of the Second Shusha Global Media Forum, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev made it clear how the theme of confronting disinformation is personal to country. “Unfortunately, our country is the subject of what is today a top topic of the discussion. And it has already, unfortunately, become a part of our life. Sometimes we are surprised when information about Azerbaijan in international media is true. False information, disinformation, manipulation of facts, and false narratives are all things we have faced for many years,” he noted.

The tension between Azerbaijan and its neighbour, Armenia, surfaced swiftly, with the head of state blaming the Western media for propagating disinformation. “The United States imposed sanctions on Azerbaijan back in 1992. We were the subject of aggression, but because of the Armenian lobby in the United States and pro-Armenian members of Congress, we were sanctioned,” said President Aliyev.

“So, it is an absolutely absurd situation. The country is facing a humanitarian crisis, the deportation of a million people, total devastation of the occupied territories, and is being sanctioned because of that. At that time, we didn’t have access to international media outlets. We were just a newly born, independent country.”

Back home, according to the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, Africa is subject to 23 transnational disinformation campaigns—nearly all of which are sponsored by external state actors attempting to assert influence on the continent.

According to the Mapping a Surge of Disinformation in Africa report, East Africa has the second-highest number of documented disinformation campaigns on the continent and the highest percentage (over 60 per cent) of domestically originating campaigns.

Most of these are in two countries - Sudan (14; six domestic) and Kenya (nine; five domestic).

Going by the recent turn of events in Kenya, where civic matters dominate public conversations, the report highlighted that Kenya has seen an unparalleled rise of domestic political disinformation, illustrating a paradox in which democratic countries’ open information spaces can be weaponised against them when rapid technological change occurs without an adequate policy response.

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