To actively combat the spread of fake news around the world, the International Organization of La Francophonie is officially launching ODIL, a French-language platform for initiatives to combat disinformation.
This new project has been designed and developed to address several issues: preventing and combating disinformation, particularly during elections; supporting the media and the quality of information or fact-checking; supporting media and information literacy, as well as any other relevant public policy aimed at preventing and combating disinformation.
Through this platform, the OIF also aims to bring together all initiatives to combat disinformation in the French-speaking world in order to give stakeholders as much visibility as possible.
Among these actors on the continent are the leading independent fact-checking site AFRICA CHECK, 237CHECK in Cameroon, BENIN CHECK, and ABIDJAN FACT CHECK, an initiative still under construction in Côte d'Ivoire.
Indeed, if the media landscape has evolved rapidly in recent years in Africa, it is partly due to the digital boom that is sweeping across different countries and the growing use of mobile phones. This development has led to a proliferation of online information platforms. Unfortunately, although this is not a new phenomenon, these new media are becoming a breeding ground for fake news.
Fake news is a viral and global phenomenon that affects all corners of the world and plagues the media universe. In Africa, as in the rest of the world, fake news spreads at lightning speed, especially in times of crisis or political tension, which are conducive to its circulation.