Media and Security (SMS) in Africa Project

Through this project, CHRIPS aimed to provide a timely understanding of the role of social media in documenting and driving (in)security in East and West Africa. The project commenced in 2015 and ran through 2020.

The SMS in Africa project provided evidence-based research on the role social media can play in shaping relationships between technology, power and the dynamics of democracy. It mapped how both those charged with community safety and non-state actors were using social media in a security context, developing an understanding of how their actions reflect on the nature of ICT and their ability to re-cast power relations, (in)security and democracy in fragile states.

Key outputs:

Investigation on the role fake news played in the 2017 Kenya elections. Using data collected during and after the August 8, 2017 General Election and October 26, 2017 repeat presidential contest, CHRIPS researchers published a paper examining how fake news was used to advance different political agendas. The paper answers two main questions: What was the nature of the fake news during the 2017 elections? And, what were the implications of the spread of fake news in the 2017 elections?

The paper can be accessed here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02500167.2020.1723662