increased circulation of false information is due to both institutional mistrust and digital illiteracy. Thus, some fact-checking initiatives are collaborating with media or national organizations to promote information credibility. The following actors indicated that they also monitor and fact check content in multiple local languages: MEDIA • PesaCheck: Swahili, Amharic, English, French • Umati: Kikuyu, Luhya, Kalenjin, Luo, Swahili, Shengi, Somali, English • Media Monitoring Africa: The Real411 platform receives complaints in all eleven of South Africa’s official languages • Africa Check Nigeria: Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Pidgin 3.6 TIME FRAME The bulk of initiatives in sub-Saharan Africa date back only a few years (see Figure 2); most of them were founded in 2020 and appear to be responding to the relatively recent emergence of mis- and disinformation spread via social media. A handful were established in the early 2010s and a few as early as the 1980s. Considering the history of political propaganda in Africa, one might expect CIVIL SOCIETY Additionally, offline activities and platforms such as community radio communicate using the relevant 6 GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT local languages. TYPES OF ACTORS 5 3.5 ORGANIZATIONAL LEGAL/HUMAN RIGHTS STRUCTURE 43 HEALTH Most initiatives 2 are being implemented either by partnerships or networks (41 percent) or by individual ACADEMIC/TRAINING organizations 2 (37 percent). Coalitions such as the Africa Infodemic Response Alliance (AIRA), the INFORMATION/LIBRARY SERVICES National Democratic 2 Institute (NDI), and the African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting MILITARY 1 (ANCIR) (supported by the International Center for NATIONAL GOVERNMENT Journalists 1 [ICFJ], Code for Africa, and the World TECHNOLOGY WORKING TO COMBAT to find a greater number of older initiatives. The INFORMATION DISORDER absence or low visibility of older initiatives are IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA likely a reflection of the political and technological environments at the time, including the dominance of state-owned media and the inability to reach the public directly through social media tools. This absence may also be because different terminologies (such as political propaganda, rumormongering, or gossiping) were used to refer to misand disinformation before 2016 (before the “posttruth” era). For example, the Electoral Institute for Sustainable Democracy in Africa (EISA), which has been promoting democratic governance since 1996, stated during an interview that they had only recently begun to refer to their work as countering disinformation. Bank) have adopted a multistakeholder approach to coordinate the efforts of state and non-state actors to inform media strategies and campaigns. Various UN agencies are also using multidisciplinary approaches, such as the #DontGoViral campaign which uses art to raise awareness of Covid-19 safety protocols. Collaborators recognize that the Figure 2: Date of establishment of sixtyeight initiatives combating information disorder in sub-Saharan Africa3 17 11 9 DATE OF ESTABLISHMENT 2021 2020 2007 2019 2006 1 2018 2004 1 2017 2003 2 2016 1996 I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH 2 5 3 2014 1 3 2013 1 2012 1 5 3 2011 1 2010 1 2008 1 1987 OF SIXTY-EIGHT INITIATIVES COMBATING INFORMATION DISORDER IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Sub -Saharan Africa – 1 44 28 28