Elections are here again, and if history is anything to go by, we are about to witness a flurry of misinformation and disinformation again. Political actors will take any opportunity you give them to lead you in a certain direction.
To keep you inoculated from the information disorder we are about to witness in the next few days, CDD Election War Room is sharing these 10 commandments for reducing and avoiding “fake news” in this election.
- Thou shall not trust party spokespersons: Based on our experience with elections, which is a lot, party spokespersons are more likely to tell a lie, or half-truths than they are, to tell the truth. So listen to party spokespersons with a lot of caution. Their job is to get you to believe in the candidate, and they would do just that in any way possible. Don’t be the pawn in their game.
- You shall have yourself an independent mind: On social media today, herd mentality is the fad. A good number of people think in a certain direction. Do not be one of them; express independence of thought, the herd could be wrong. Independently come to your own conclusions after considering all sides.
- You shall not make for yourself a golden idol of bias: In our experience, we have seen that people will believe anything if it favours their political idols. For many Nigerians, Peter Obi can never be wrong. For some, President Muhammadu Buhari is the idol. For many others, it is Jagaban or nothing. This is part of what we refer to as cognitive bias. If you can conquer this and check your own bias, you will not likely fall for misinformation.
- Thou shall check multiple credible sources for confirmation: Nigeria is often an unbelievable country; political events that you consider impossible actually happen. One way to stay safe is to check multiple credible sources. This could include newspapers, TV stations, and Civil Society Organisations.
- Thou shall not hit share without verification: Sharing is caring, only when you’re sharing the truth. When sharing false information, you endanger the lives of your loved ones and wrongly influence their decisions. Before sharing any information, or retweeting that claim, please verify.
- Thou shall seek legal interpretations of statutes from lawyers and not random social media users: When legal issues come up in the election you are interested in, people share their views online. Many of these ‘legal’ views are not accurate and are being put forward by social media users who have no knowledge, experience, or expertise in the law. We advise that you seek legal interpretation from actual lawyers with expertise and experience in elections.
- Thou shall read beyond the headline before sharing news: Sadly, we are at a time when sensationalism is rife on social media, hence, the headline of a story can be without the necessary context for understanding the story. To be well-informed, please read the full story before coming to a conclusion or sharing.
- Thou shall understand the political preference of who is sharing: One sure way of getting more context about a post, is knowing the political preference of the account sharing the story. For instance, if an APC supporter shares information about Peter Obi of the Labour Party, that piece of information may not be with prejudice. If an APC supporter shares information about Bola Tinubu, the post may be exaggerated or skewed to favour Tinubu.
- Thou shall not commit adulteration of fact: Now, you have done your research, that great. You now know the facts, but it does not favour your political party or the movement you support. We advise that you take the facts for what they are, and avoid the temptation to twist the facts to drive your personal political points.
- Thou shall follow trusted and credible sources for updates: Like it is in medicine, so it is in information disorder; prevention is better than cure. The best way to stay ahead of the misinformation is to be well informed. This can be done easily by naturally following multiple credible sources of information.
May the facts be with you, and your political preferences.