To actively combat the spread of fake news in Côte d'Ivoire, the Network of Online Press Professionals of Côte d'Ivoire (Repprelci) officially presents the "La Trousse" project.
Designed by Les Surligneurs, a French media outlet specializing in fact-checking and funded by the International Organization of La Francophonie, this project is an online platform capable of proposing article topics, writing them, and ensuring they are proofread and published on the website of the media outlet that wishes to use them.
“La Trousse” is also available as open source for French-speaking initiatives combating disinformation. The platform’s founders are inviting all media outlets and fact-checkers in French-speaking countries to adopt the platform, driven by the ambition to reduce disinformation through fact-checking.
Indeed, if the media landscape has evolved rapidly in recent years in French-speaking Africa, it is partly due to the rise of digital technology in various countries and the growing use of mobile phones. This development has led to a proliferation of online news platforms. Unfortunately, although this is not a new phenomenon, these new media outlets have become a breeding ground for fake news.
They are a viral, global phenomenon that affects every corner of the world and plagues the media landscape. In Africa, as in the rest of the world, fake news spreads like wildfire, especially in times of crisis or political tension, which are conducive to its circulation.