The article discusses the challenges of combating disinformation, particularly in Africa's linguistically diverse regions. The author shares personal experiences from six years of work in disinformation management across various African languages. Meta's automated systems often fail to identify harmful content in non-English languages, creating a gap that allows false narratives to proliferate. The impact of disinformation is illustrated through examples from Ethiopia and Tanzania, where misinformation has led to diplomatic tension and misrepresentations. The author stresses the urgent need for better tools to address these issues, especially in local languages.
Fighting disinformation in today's digital landscape is daunting, especially in linguistically diverse regions... Meta's automated filters often fall short when dealing with non-English content.
In Ethiopia, false Amharic-language Facebook posts claimed Ethiopian troops had seized the port... The images were digitally manipulated. But they spread widely and undermined diplomatic efforts.
As disinformation spreads, fact-checkers have taken dual roles - part journalist, part moderators - investigating and correcting false narratives.
My team consistently raised this issue with Meta, urging the company to build tools to address the issue of flagging more harmful non-English content.
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