Côte d'Ivoire faces disinformation

 

How Côte d’Ivoire mobilises to fight false news and foreign influence

Disinformation and foreign influence are viewed as real risks for the Côte d’Ivoire 2025 presidential election, according to several reports and analyses pointing to vulnerabilities, while some efforts being made to counter them. Melissa Chemam report from Abidjan, talking to media experts, historians and fact-checking specialists.

-

This year only, concern was raised in Côte d'Ivoire mostly about false narratives spreading on social media, especially Twitter, TikTok and Facebook, including AI-generated content. Some report violence at protests; others unfair campaigning.

Alongside growing domestic tensions, international observers have also raised concern about possible foreign interference.

Analysts warn that Côte d’Ivoire is the target of foreign intrusion risk and influence operations, especially by Russia, to sway political narratives, like the Foreign Policy Research Institute, which published a report in March this year.

Social media’s deformation

Joel Djaha is a PhD candidate in Abidjan, affiliated to the PCA centre and the Félix Houphouët-Boigny University. He thinks there is a real risk of fake news and rumours spreading. According to him, the last presidential election was held in a context marked by both health and political issues, including Covid-19, and that didn’t help keeping information accurate.

“On digital social networks, particularly TikTok, there are a lot of rumours and misinformation circulating about possible violence and forms of destabilisation that would take place or are currently taking place,” he told me.

“From my experience, they come mainly from web activists, who are politically marked, whether they are from opposition parties or the party in power. There's a density of information surrounding these rumours circulating, on Twitter notably, and which are shared by profiles that belong to these different camps.”

These essentially fuel debates in the pre-election context, and can even affect readership.

“So, it's all these elements put together, dissemination of false information, the influence of rumours, fake news, and more, that are aimed at the presidential election of October 2025,” Djaha added.

Assane Diagne, French-language editor-in-chief of The Conversation and former editor-in-chief of the fact-checking platform Africa Check, acknowledge that when Ivorians go on social media, they get the impression that the situation could explode at any moment...

"I'll just give one example: a highly visited Facebook page in Côte d'Ivoire, which recently presented a video that went viral. A video claimed to be proof of a strong mobilisation with hundreds of people running and singing. The same video was posted last week by Malagasy internet users. Upon verification, this video is filmed in Haiti," he told me.

According to Dr Hyacinthe Bley, a historian at the Houphouët-Boigny University, false information and foreign influence are also an issue because the ruling party, RHDP, which is supporting President Alassane Ouattara’s bid for a fourth mandate, won’t let the opposition express their anger at the absence of leading opposition candidates, notably Tidjane Thiam and Laurent Gbagbo.

“Their supporters have called to march to protest against their exclusion,” he told me, “and the authorities should let them express their anger, or else they will think that the current government just uses all the means for repression to their advantage, and that cannot be good for a peaceful election.”

Bley understands that, in such a context, parts of the opposition’s supporters try to amplify their anger.

In 2023, the government launched a major national digital education campaign – named #OnlineAllResponsible –, to raise citizens' awareness of manipulation. Its slogans, including "Don't believe everything you see online" and "Stop the digital wizardry", aim to strengthen information resilience in the face of extremist discourse.

Finally, the last issue is the one of foreign influence. According to the Foreign Policy Research Institute report, the growing tide of pan-African sovereignty across sub-Saharan Africa, especially in the Sahel, is reshaping regional alliances and challenging traditional foreign influence. And many in post-coup Traoré-led Burkina Faso have reported rumours about violence in Côte d’Ivoire.

Diagne says this election is of interest beyond Côte d'Ivoire. "It interests all of West Africa, and Africa in general. Particularly for two reasons: the country's economic weight in the region, especially in the WAEMU zone, which is an integrated area."

But many actors in civil society organisations have called for calm, and warned about false rumours from or about Burkina, not only disinformation coming from the country but also about accusing the junta-led country of potential destabilisation in Côte d’Ivoire.

“Burkina Faso has enough problems,” Bley states, “and many Burkinabè live here in Côte d’Ivoire, so any backlash against them could be really bad for Ouagadougou. That’s why I don’t believe Burkina has any interest in destabilising Côte d’Ivoire.”

Precedents

Such foreign influence may include support for certain parties or candidates—directly or indirectly—and through information campaigns.

The credibility of false information is due to Côte d’Ivoire’s electoral history which has been marred by turmoil, especially the 2010 presidential race, when Alassane Ouattara challenged then then incumbent President Gbagbo.

“Despite Ouattara securing 54 percent of the vote, Gbagbo contested the results, triggering a post-electoral crisis that left over 3,000 civilians dead in violent clashes between rival supporters. A military intervention led to Gbagbo’s arrest and subsequent twenty-year sentence by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity,” the report recalls.

Then in 2015, Gbagbo’s party, the Front Populaire Ivoirien (FPI), boycotted the vote, claiming the process was rigged, thereby facilitating Ouattara’s re-election.

And in 2020, the sudden death of Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the ruling party’s designated candidate, prompted Ouattara to run for a controversial third term. That election, held in a climate of heightened tensions, saw lies, widespread disruptions, the closure of polling stations, and low voter turnout.

Some elements of disinformation or attacks also previously focused on identity / “Ivoirité” (who is truly Ivorian), regarding nationality, foreign parentage, etc. And Ivoirians really fear violence coming back, so it is important for eveyone to debunk false accusations.

For example, some accusations were spread around Tidjane Thiam’s origins and dual nationality. These identity-based controversies are potent because they tap into issues that have caused political conflict in Côte d’Ivoire’s past.

Organised efforts to counter false information

This year, as four candidates defy President Ouattara - Jean-Louis Billon, Ahoua Don Mello, Simone Ehivet, Henriette Lagou, the two main opponents, Tidjane Thiam and Larent Gbagbo remain excluded from the race and called for protests and marches, which were strictly banned and dispersed.

Reports of violence from such protests are at the core of amplified rumours.

However, Ivorians authorities and their regional partners are doing their best to educate voters on false information and dangerous influences.

Ecowas has also organised training for media professionals and civil society to deal with misinformation.

The International Republican Institute (IRI) has done a pre-election assessment and noted that lack of transparency, disinformation, and foreign malign influence are among stakeholders’ concerns.

For Mohamed Kebe, a journalist, fact-checking specialist and media consultant, sensibility to false rumours depends on the side of the political spectrum people are on.

"If you're in the opposition and your party produces false information, even if you think it's false, you choose to believe it because it follows an agenda. It's the same for the ruling party," he told me.

"But overall, the authorities have put in place the right mechanism to crack down on anyone who produces false information. Added to this, there are organisations like IvoireCheck that fight against false information on a daily basis." 

Kebe confirms that several pieces of false information currently being shared on social media have AES designations. "It's very important to take them seriously. Because these issues can be a source of serious tension," he adds.

"How can we influence the citizen? It's through media education," Diagne adds. "How can we make good use of social media? It can help raise awareness and raise consciences. Beyond the fact-checking work that journalists are doing on the subject."

Djaha also says that not everyone is sensitive to false information and influence.

“Ivorians have knowledge of the cyberspace, of what happens the day before the elections and what is being said,” he told me. “They have a culture of digital reading and I think that it won't really have too much influence.”

There have been quite a few actions taken by the public prosecutor as well, he reminds us. “So, in my opinion, I don't think that the false information that is circulating will be able to influence the electorate in the slightest.”

-