A new report from the Centre for Democracy and Development, CDD-West Africa, has shown that there has been a big increase in messages against the ECOWAS group and support for military take over across West Africa.
According to the report, this is happening because of organized social media efforts working together.
The study, done together with the Observatoire Ivoirien des Droits de l’Homme, OIDH, looked at over 30,000 online articles for three months and discovered signs of a planned attempt to change how people think about leadership and working together between regions.
In the report, ECOWAS has emerged as a primary target of online disinformation, with thousands of posts depicting the regional bloc as a tool of foreign influence rather than an autonomous African institution.
These stories became more popular during important political events, like sanctions and diplomatic actions, with a lot more content being shared during those times.
The report obtained by DAILY POST mentions that the idea of “double standards” has been spread a lot, especially when comparing how ECOWAS dealt with military coups to how it handled changes in constitutions in other member countries.
Researchers found an increase in content that supports military-led governments in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. These countries, now part of the Alliance of Sahel States, AES, are more often shown online as protectors of their independence and as choices instead of democratic rule.
High levels of engagement on various platforms, especially those with short-form videos, show that these stories are connecting with many people throughout the region.
The report further emphasizes the role of external actors, especially Russian-linked networks, in spreading these messages.
Content linked to Russian media and related accounts displayed signs of working together, usually matching up with important diplomatic events.
These stories are often reworked and shared within local information networks, making them seem natural and driven by the community itself.
CDD cautions that the increasing support for military rule and the decline in trust in regional institutions may lead to significant long-term challenges for democracy in West Africa.
The report says that even though these campaigns use real problems people have, like feeling unsafe, corruption, and bad government, their organized way of working makes them a bigger risk to democracy.
The study warns that without quick changes and honest actions, the area could experience more problems with its systems and become easier to control by outside forces.
