On May 21, social media swept an unprecedented wave of publications that claim a “military coup” in Côte d’Ivoire.
Pictures and videos that have spread like wildfire on platforms such as “X”, “Tech Talk” and “Facebook”, prompted many to believe that rumor, especially with the approaching presidential elections scheduled for next October.
However, a digital investigation conducted by “Sanad Agency” revealed a completely different reality, as what happened was only an organized digital misinformation campaign led by external networks that targeted the amplification of the coup novel using false content and overlapping platforms.
7 thousand tweets in 24 hours .. and fabricated content
Sanad monitored more than 7,000 tweets that included the keyword “Ivory Coast” in just one day, between 21 and 22 May, using data analysis tools such as Nodexl and Gephi. About 4,689 accounts have been traced to spread or amplify the rumor.
The analysis showed that many of the photos and videos used are not related to Côte d’Ivoire. Some of them return to ancient scenes from Kenya and Tripoli, and some are taken from the movie “The War of the World”, which was filmed in the American “Universal” studios.
External networks and digital blocs led the campaign
Investigations revealed that the most influential accounts in spreading allegations do not belong to Cote d’Ivoire, but rather concentrated in countries such as Kenya, South Africa, and Nigeria.
The most prominent accounts:
@africandemoc: It is run by Mohamed Fifa Dag, a South African politician of Turkish origin, promoting the speech of “liberating Africa from the pro -France regimes.”
@Muonga_254: A member of the “Kenya on Twitter” group known as systematic digital pressure campaigns.
The network structure shows that these digital blocs have shared specific roles in amplifying the common through a false content and organized format.
Transnational misleading .. and failed to verify
It is noteworthy that the campaign relied on recycling of visual content previously published in different contexts, such as pictures of Kenya’s protests for the year 2024, videos from Tripoli, and even a celebration of the Cote d’Ivoire team winning the 2023 African Cup of Nations.
This indicates a systematic endeavor to form a fictitious coup narrative, with the aim of provoking chaos and influencing public opinion, locally and internationally.
Digital campaign in the time of the fragility of the information
Although the government officially denied the coup and the emergence of President Hassan Wattara on public occasions, the digital campaign has succeeded in raising widespread political controversy, taking advantage of the state of congestion in the country after the opposition was excluded Tijan Tiam from running for the presidency.
This event reflects the escalation of the risk of digital information wars in Africa, as the artificial common is able to destabilize institutions and ignite tensions without any real facts on Earth.
Related tanks and a disorganized reality
With the approaching electoral entitlement, Cote d’Ivoire remains threatened not only by political tensions, but also digital campaigns aimed at falsifying public awareness, as policy is intertwined with technology, and false narratives are mixed with fragile reality.
Do governments and election bodies in West Africa have what is necessary to confront this new type of “digital coups”? A question that may reveal the coming months some of his answers.