Freedom of expression and African elections: Mitigating the insidious effect of emerging approaches to addressing the false news threat

Abstract

African governments are increasingly enacting laws that criminalise false news or adopting practices such as internet shutdowns as strategies to address the spread of online false news during elections. These approaches have an adverse effect on the way in which citizens exercise their freedom of expression and access information necessary to develop an informed electorate that can meaningfully participate in elections. Electoral authoritarian regimes also adopt such practices to supress critical voices and reduce the transparency and integrity of electoral processes that have been tilted in their favour. Admittedly, false news poses a threat to the quality of information in the public sphere, particularly when deployed to manipulate the decisions of voters. This article calls for more proactive and human rights-based approaches to addressing the scourge of false news. In doing so, the article juxtaposes the measures adopted by South Africa (2019 and 2021) and Tanzania (2020) in their elections. It recommends that states and other stakeholders implement media and information literacy measures and ensure that owners of digital technologies apply human rights-based approaches in their policies and practices as opposed to punitive measures and internet shutdowns. This reflects a democratic culture that is more in alignment with international laws and standards on promoting and protecting freedom of expression during elections.