Accra, January 29, 2024 – The Ghana Fact-Checking Coalition (GFC), comprising Dubawa Ghana, Fact-Check Ghana, and GhanaFact, launched its report on efforts to tackle electoral misinformation and disinformation before, during, and after Ghana’s 2024 General Elections.
The report titled ‘Countering Electoral Disinformation: Lessons From Ghana’s 2024 Elections,’ covers aspects of the coalition’s work, which began from December 4 to December 11, 2024.
It highlights how political actors were both the purveyors and victims of disinformation. It also exposed how coordinated networks employed Artificial Intelligence (AI) to manipulate narratives about the two leading candidates in the elections – John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress and Dr Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party.
Partnering with over 100 media outlets to amplify the reach of fact-checking reports, the coalition also employed bulk SMS to disseminate fact-checks to regions that had limited internet access. To make its work more inclusive, the coalition additionally broadcasted the fact-checks in 45 Ghanaian languages.
Speaking at the launch in Accra, Dr. Aurelia Ayisi of the University of Ghana’s Department of Communication, and a key member of the coalition said the work of the coalition has set a benchmark for transparency.
“Across the globe fact-checkers have played a pivotal role in preparing their nations towards elections. We see these examples in Nigeria, Kenya, and the US. These global examples re-affirm the importance of fact-checking as a universal democratic mechanism and underscore the need for continued innovation and investments in this critical work,” she said.
Notably, Dr. George Sarpong, the Executive Director of the National Media Commission (NMC) who was a keynote speaker at the launch said the greatest innovation of the election was the formation of the coalition.
“The coalition gave us an opportunity to deal with the disinformation that was emerging and to restore faith in the communication that the Electoral Commission, the Peace Council and everybody was providing,” he added.
Dr. Sarpong indicated that the coalition’s report will be “studied critically” by the NMC for possible policy intervention.
Other stakeholders present at the launch included members of the National Peace Council, the United States (US) Embassy, the British High Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Penplusbyte, the Germany Embassy, the French Embassy, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), the Cybersecurity Authority, Africa Check and other notable media organization.
Mr George Amoh of the Peace Council said: “The last election was when I saw quite formidable fact-checkers for all elections that I witnessed in this country. We have a lot that we have to do to counter misinformation that is all over the place. The Peace Council fully supports your work.”
Mr Mamid Yakub, Programme Specialist at UNESCO, on his part, said: “The coalition did a good work but there are still gaps because information integrity is a very huge deal. I think the report will clearly show gaps that we have to work on.”
The GFC coalition launched in early November 2024 is a collaborative initiative between Ghana’s three top fact-checking organisations (GhanaFact, Dubawa Ghana, and Fact-Check Ghana). Its main aim is to tackle misinformation and disinformation before, during, and after the election. All three are signatories of the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN).
