https://en.sputniknews.africa/20250909/nigerian-researchers-declare-war-on-fake-news-in-africa-in-bold-new-ai-project-1078076398.html
Nigerian Researchers Declare War on Fake News in Africa in Bold New AI Project
Nigerian Researchers Declare War on Fake News in Africa in Bold New AI Project
Sputnik Africa
Falsehoods and hoaxes are tearing communities across Africa apart. As political and health misinformation spreads like wildfire across Africa’s digital media... 09.09.2025, Sputnik Africa
2025-09-09T17:21+0200
2025-09-09T17:21+0200
2025-09-09T17:25+0200
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Nigerian Researchers Declare War on Fake News in Africa in Bold New AI Project
Sputnik Africa
Falsehoods and hoaxes are tearing communities across Africa apart. As political and health misinformation spreads like wildfire across Africa’s digital media, experts warn urgent action is needed—so who will stop them?
A team of Nigerian scholars is tackling the viral spread of fake news with an innovative initiative: the “Naija Falsehoods Buster.” This AI-powered platform monitors and analyzes misinformation and disinformation across social and broadcast media in real time. Partnering with universities nationwide, the researchers aim to identify influential voices—from on-air personalities to online content creators—who frequently amplify falsehoods. By combining advanced AI, machine learning, and on-the-ground research, the project seeks to equip journalists, policymakers, and everyday Nigerians with tools to combat lies, improve media literacy, and strengthen social cohesion. The stakes are high, and a truth revolution in Nigeria’s media landscape is underway. African Currents spoke with project lead Dr. Toyin Segun Onayinka of the Department of Mass Communication at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, about what inspired the team to develop this digital fact-checking tool and their vision for the platform.Want to hear more from our guest? Catch the full conversation on the African Currents podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.You’ll find our episodes not just on the website, but also on Telegram.► You can also stream our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, Pocket Casts, Afripods, Podcast Addict.► Check out all the episodes of African Currents.
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Nigerian Researchers Declare War on Fake News in Africa in Bold New AI Project
Falsehoods and hoaxes are tearing communities across Africa apart. As political and health misinformation spreads like wildfire across Africa’s digital media, experts warn urgent action is needed—so who will stop them?
A team of Nigerian scholars is tackling the viral spread of fake news with an innovative initiative: the “Naija Falsehoods Buster.” This AI-powered platform monitors and analyzes misinformation and disinformation across social and broadcast media in real time. Partnering with universities nationwide, the researchers aim to identify influential voices—from on-air personalities to online content creators—who frequently amplify falsehoods. By combining advanced AI, machine learning, and on-the-ground research, the project seeks to equip journalists, policymakers, and everyday Nigerians with tools to combat lies, improve media literacy, and strengthen social cohesion. The stakes are high, and a truth revolution in Nigeria’s media landscape is underway.
African Currents spoke with project lead Dr. Toyin Segun Onayinka of the Department of Mass Communication at the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, about what inspired the team to develop this digital fact-checking tool and their vision for the platform.
"Our project, Naija Falsehood Buster, is an AI-based tool being fashioned to detect and analyze falsehoods across the Nigerian media space. And we all know that falsehood erodes societal values. It polarizes communities and stokes ethnic and religious tensions across all strata. We embarked on this project to provide a scalable technology-based or driven-response to those challenges which are fake news often bring to bear on the society. The AI tool uses a natural language processing and machine learning to identify and classify misleading content [...]. It is very crucial at this point in time to have access to tools like ours when it is fully developed or like other existing fact-checking tools [...] and we strongly believe that this project, after its actualization, should be scalable," Dr. Onayinka said.
Want to hear more from our guest? Catch the full conversation on the African Currents podcast, brought to you by Sputnik Africa.
You’ll find our episodes not just on the website, but also on
Telegram.► Check out all the episodes of African Currents. 
