Guinea, Ivory Coast: disinformation in the pre-election period

Audio 03:08

Presidents Alpha Condé (left) and Alassane Ouattara (right).

AFP

By: Sophie Malibeaux

7 min

In a tense pre-election context, in Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire, the circulation of false information on social networks risks making the climate heavier.

A document emanating - apparently - from the US State Department is being relayed on WhatsApp to put pressure on supporters of the third presidential term.

Verification made, it is a fake.

Publicity

Under the heading of the US Department of State, and more precisely under the title “ 

 ”, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses both the Presidents of the Republic of Guinea, Alpha Condé , and from Côte d'Ivoire, Alassane Dramane Ouattara, to ask them not to run for a third term.

This document refers to " 

 ", a " 

 " and announces both economic sanctions, military intervention and travel restrictions for members of the two governments.

None of this is proven.

Verification made, on

, this text does not exist, never existed, but it circulates on the Internet.

Logo hijacking, copy and paste

There are many clues that allow the falsification to be identified.

On the form first of all, it is a bilingual English-French document, as there is none on the official website of the State Department.

The typography also does not match that of the official site.

In French as in English, the spelling errors are numerous, and it is also easy to detect incorrect turns of phrase that one would not find in an authentic official statement of the administration.

It is simply an official logo hijacking, as we see a lot on the internet.

Basically, what is intriguing at first glance - beyond the enormity of the announcement which could not have escaped any media or any news agency - is that this pseudo press release deals with two different countries, with the same arsenal of sanctions, as if it were one country.

Above all, it is easy to verify that on that date, no resolution has been adopted in this direction by the UN.

In addition, when the World Bank, the IMF, the European Union or even the ADB " 

 ", they are responsible for announcing it themselves, contrary to what we can read in this document.

It is not the role of the US Secretary of State to communicate for them.

According to this text, Mike Pompeo acts as if he had all power over these international institutions.

Which is not the case.

When the EU adopts sanctions, it is not for the US foreign minister to announce them.

Network anonymity

What impact can the circulation of this type of false document have?

In reality it is not possible to know how many people we saw pass.

Its circulation on WhatsApp raises questions, but we cannot know to what extent the Internet users who share and relay the document have themselves read it, and what credit they give it.

As for the alleged author of the false press release, it is understandable that this is a person or a group of people very angry at the principle of a third term for these two presidents, but let it be known through false information does not serve the cause of critics of the third term.

In addition, disinformation is also rife in the opposing camp, as evidenced by the work of our colleagues from

, who for their part spotted an identity theft, with the statements of a so-called French constitutionalist, demonstrating the legality of Alassane Ouattara's candidacy.

Declarations made up since their author does not exist.

Do not hesitate to join the WhatsApp group "The bottom of the info", at 33 6 89076109, to report any questionable information that you see circulating on the internet

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