Disinformation is the intentional dissemination of false information with the intent of advancing a political objective. Africa has been the increasingly frequent target of such campaigns. Russia has been the leading purveyor of disinformation campaigns in Africa with at least 16 known operations on the continent.
Russian and other external and domestic actors are actively exploiting sites like Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and TikTok to intentionally distort the information environment. Invariably, they are doing so to advance an antidemocratic objective. Disinformation, thus, is an effort to undercut popular sovereignty in Africa. Sowing distrust and undercutting truth is also inherently destabilizing—an outcome that will likely expand until there are heightened efforts to combat it.