Kenyans urged to examine sources of disinformation campaigns affecting public opinion

A forum held to explore the impact of disinformation on major events across the globe has revealed ways in which false narratives are deliberately used as a tool to distort public perception and policymaking across the world.

The timely discussion led by a panel of experts also sought to highlight instances where disinformation has been used as a warfare tactic and the role of journalists in effectively countering disinformation.

"Make no mistake, information is not always used to inform; sometimes it is used to misinform and disinform people," said Ms. Nicol Adamvova, the Czech Republic Ambassador to Kenya and the host of the event held at the McMillan Library on Tuesday evening.

Bohumil Dobos, a researcher based in the Czech Republic who has studied the influence of disinformation on geopolitics, foreign policy, and conflict, noted that false narratives can influence public opinion that poses a threat to national security.

This is especially true when it's a systematic campaign to undermine some truth or promote some narrative that doesn't correspond with the truth.

"What is more important than checking every piece of information is to find out the trends. Find the sources of the long-lasting narratives that can change the perceptions of the population and change the perceptions of the government. In geopolitics, perceptions are as important as capabilities; if you are perceiving global or the other's capabilities and intentions very differently than they are, you can end up with suboptimal outcomes," he said.

He pointed out that disinformation actors can be external, internal, or a combination of both.

External actors may be in the form of foreigners seeking to influence a targeted country's strategic decisions or external militia seeking to promote their ideologies within a targeted country.

"Actually, there is some data coming from the African Centre for Strategic Studies, which is looking at this issue, and it highlighted that about 60 per cent of the information campaigns that were targeted at African countries were coming from Russia, China, and the countries in the Arab Peninsula. These were the main sources," he said.

He added that "40 per cent of these information campaigns were coming from African political actors of the countries themselves, from other political actors, terrorist groups, etc."

Local elites seeking to accrue benefits from politics may also deliberately stir division through disinformation in order to influence voting patterns.

On his part, Vojtech Pecka, a Slovakian researcher with a focus on climate disinformation, noted the use of fake experts in articles on climate change was contributing partly to panic across the globe.

At the same time, he noted that, in some instances, disinformation was being deliberately used as a political tool to spread an unequal distribution of risks.

Ms Vera Okidi, a journalist and lecturer at Multimedia University, urged for more social media literacy, noting its key role in combating disinformation in the digital age.

She cited the widespread use of disinformation and misinformation during the August 2022 election campaigns that saw copies of fake front pages of newspapers shared on social media to spread malice against competing parties alongside the sharing of falsehoods on social media that spread hate amongst those who believed it.

Notable guests at the forum included the Slovakian Ambassador to Kenya, Ms. Katarina Zuffa Leligdonova, and Shinyalu Member of Parliament, Fredrick Ikana Lusuli.