Facebook in Africa Network struggles to curb west African disinformation tide

Social media campaigns pushing an anti-western, pro-Russian agenda seem to have laid the ground for a series of coups in the Sahel

- Jason Burke

Facebook is struggling to contain pro-Russian and anti-western posts that are contributing to political instability in west Africa, investigators and analysts have said.

The platform, which has expanded rapidly across the continent, has made significant investment in content moderation, but still faces challenges in curbing deliberate disinformation campaigns. One major area of concern is the Sahel region, which has suffered a series of military takeovers in the past 18 months.

Campaigns on Facebook appear to have prepared the ground for many of the coups, pushing an anti-western, pro-Russian agenda. The efforts are similar to the "hybrid warfare” campaign launched by Moscow in Ukraine and elsewhere.

A report by investigators from the Digital Forensic Lab, a global network of digital forensic researchers run by US-based thinktank the Atlantic Council, reveals how pro-Russian Facebook pages in Mali coordinated support for anti-democracy protests and the Wagner group, a controversial Russian private military contractor that was invited into the unstable country last year after the overthrow of President Bah N'daw by the military.

The US and others allege that Wagner is funded by the powerful businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is closely linked to Vladimir Putin. Prigozhin and the Kremlin have denied any knowledge of Wagner.