US President Donald Trump’s return to office has triggered a surge in disinformation about Africa, researchers say, warning of a radical shift in online media driven by geopolitical disruption and mistrust.
Here are some examples from three African powerhouses in recent weeks, including some claims debunked by AFP Fact Check.
South Africa: ‘Genocide?’
South Africa has come under fire from the new US administration on a range of issues, including a new act that Trump falsely presented as allowing the government to seize the land of white farmers without compensation.
“South Africa is confiscating land, and treating certain classes of people VERY BADLY,” Trump said on social media in February.
But officials and analysts say no land has been confiscated, and the act makes clear that government is obliged to pay fair compensation for any expropriation of property.
Washington’s offer to provide “safe refuge” to South Africa’s minority Afrikaner community then resuscitated Donald Trump’s “white genocide” myth.
Viral social media posts falsely claimed 60 white farmers were killed every day. Others said more than 4,000 had been murdered in the past six years.
But figures from groups representing farmers and Afrikaner interests showed that, in reality, around 50 people of all races are killed on farms every year.
Nearly 3 000 were killed on farms across the country in over 30 years to 2024, the Transvaal Agricultural Union of South Africa said.
Of the more than 19 000 murders across South Africa between January and September 2024, most of the victims were young black men in urban areas, according to police figures.
Trump’s remarks are “irresponsible”, said Gideon Chitanga, a political analyst in South Africa.
“This kind of propaganda can actually provoke black people to start fighting white people, or white people might be incensed,” he said.
“Trump is feeding into existing stereotypes, and people don’t necessarily care about the truth as long as it aligns with their political interests,” said Trust Matsilele, senior journalism lecturer at Birmingham City University.
Nigeria: AI-generated
Donald Trump’s return has been a boon for government critics in Nigeria, including a secessionist movement that claims his backing.
Supporters of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) independence movement are churning out content generated by artificial intelligence to spin their campaign.
One doctored video showed Trump voicing his support for the group, whose founder is on trial for treason.
Other posts presented an artificially generated video claiming to show the Finnish President Alexander Stubb also pledging his backing.
Lanre Olagunju, a fact-checker and editor of CheckClimate.Africa, said Trump’s influence “seeps into political discourse, emboldening leaders who use disinformation as a tool of control”.
Other government critics exploited Trump’s crushing foreign aid cuts to issue posts that exaggerated Nigeria’s HIV/AIDS rate.
Digitally altered videos also claimed to show that the United States had deported Nigerian politicians and seized their assets following new US immigration policies.
Since his first term, Trump’s “strategic use of social media, and relentless attacks on mainstream journalism institutionalised disinformation as a political weapon”, Olagunju said.
Kenya: Online attacks
Donald Trump’s re-election brought a spike in disinformation capitalising on Kenya’s internal political divisions.
A doctored TikTok video falsely claimed that former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua, who was impeached last year and is a rival to President William Ruto, attended Trump’s January inauguration.
Other false claims suggested Kenya had withdrawn from the World Health Organization following Trump’s decision to ditch the UN health body. The claim was based on an old video linked to a doctor known to spread health disinformation.
Odanga Madung, a technology and society researcher, noted that Trump’s return had bolstered far-right conspiracies worldwide.
Political moves “such as the demonisation of fact-checkers by Meta and executive orders halting crucial programmes such as USAID, have fundamentally altered people’s capacity to filter misinformation”, Madung said.
Nyakerario Omari, a disinformation expert at Code for Africa, said this intensified challenges for Kenyan media outlets, which already faces censorship and political pressure.
In the buildup to elections in 2027, “online attacks on media houses will likely increase, especially with the rise of digital politics”, she said.
“We are witnessing a radical shift in how we communicate, receive and process information,” said Chitanga, calling for “new ways of filtering the disinformation”.
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By Garrin Lambley © Agence France-Presse
