Desinfox Chad

Combating the spread of fake news in Chad

Chad is no stranger to misinformation, with the spread of fake news polluting public debate and undermining social cohesion. Launched in June 2022, Desinfox Chad aims to strengthen the capacity of six media outlets to combat the manipulation of information.

Calendrier

June 2022 - March 2024

Budget global

1 M€

Democratic governance Environment Gender equality Misinformation

In Chad, as in the rest of the world, misinformation is unfortunately commonplace. How can we combat this scourge, which directly affects the public and undermines the freedom to be properly informed? To meet this challenge, the Desinfox Chad project aims to train 24 journalists in information verification and 40 young people from civil society in digital citizenship.

CFI enabled the High Authority for Media and Audiovisual (HAMA) to make a study visit to Paris. The four members of the HAMA, including its chairman, were able to exchange views with the French public regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication (ARCOM), and then take part in the 7th conference of the chairmen and chairwomen of the French-speaking network for media regulation (REFRAM), the central theme of which was new tools and methods for regulating online content platforms.

Digital citizenship strengthened for 40 young people

Alongside its work for media professionals, the project has set itself the challenge of strengthening the digital citizenship of 40 young members of the RFI clubs in Ndjaména and Abéché. A series of eight workshops was led by journalists from France Médias Monde (FMM) and focused on decrypting the media, gathering and processing digital information, techniques for verifying information, and setting up digital communities to alert people to the circulation of fake news and curb their spread.

Finally, all the beneficiaries of the project (media, young people, HAMA) were brought together at two national forums devoted to ways of combating misinformation more effectively, which were also attended by local civil society organisations and experts from several African and European countries. The first forum, held in February 2023, focused on the role of the media. The second, organised six months later, focused on media and information literacy.

“I now know a lot of applications for fact-checking. Now I look for the source, the origin of the image.”
Hayat Nassour Adam, reporter at the National Officer for Audiovisual Media (ONAMA, Télé-Tchad)

A project