Southern Africa stakeholders address anti-LGBTQI+ disinformation

Stakeholders convened at the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria for a roundtable titled ‘From Online Lies to Offline Harm: Mapping and Countering Anti-LGBTQI+ Disinformation in Southern Africa.’ The event brought together LGBTQI+ rights organizations, legal experts, media outlets, fact-checkers, and researchers to address how digital misinformation translates into physical discrimination and violence.

Norwegian Ambassador Anne Beathe Kristiansen warned that disinformation campaigns are increasingly used to shape public perception and influence political agendas. She noted that these campaigns do not merely target facts but are strategically designed to target vulnerable communities, with LGBTQI+ individuals frequently being singled out as scapegoats.

Anita Igbine, a Senior Investigative Analyst at Code for Africa, presented research on recurring narratives used against LGBTQI+ communities across the continent, focusing on investigations into coordinated inauthentic behavior and influence operations.