30 June 2021

Peter Cunliffe-Jones for The Conversation about why punitive laws are failing to curb misinformation in Africa

Peter Cunliffe-Jones, Visiting Researcher at the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI), co-wrote an article for The Conversation about why punitive laws are failing to curb misinformation in Africa.

Online fake news on a mobile phone
Credit: r.classen/Shutterstock.com

In the article, he wrote: “In Africa, interest in the subject grew in particular after news emerged of disinformation campaigns run by Bell Pottinger, the British PR firm, on behalf of the Gupta family that stirred racial tensions in South Africa in 2016 as a counter-narrative to the growing public anger at the family’s central role in grand corruption and state capture.”

Discussing their recent research into laws against false information, Cunliffe-Jones and his colleagues added: “The problem we identified is that these laws restrict freedom of speech and they don’t reduce the actual – or potential harm – that misinformation causes. This tells us that the punitive approach does not appear to work.

“By contrast, an approach favouring better access to accurate information and correction of false information may do so.”

Read the full article on The Conversation’s website.

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