Politics shapes what fact-checkers do in four African countries
Scholars interviewed 19 fact-checkers in Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa about their role and challenges. They found that the political system shapes what fact-checkers can do and what they think their job is.
The interviews took place between January and August 2025: five in Cameroon, five in Kenya, five in Nigeria and four in South Africa. In Cameroon, fact-checkers said they mostly avoid politics out of fear. In more open systems, the work grows into education and accountability. Across all four countries, many fact-checkers are moving from labelling claims true or false towards helping people judge information themselves, including through "prebunking". The authors wrote about their own study in an article. It is not the peer-reviewed paper, and the sample is small.