Stakeholder perceptions of regulatory responses to misinformation in Kenya and Senegal

Abstract

While misinformation is very prevalent in Africa, we have a limited understanding of how key stakeholders, such as journalists, fact-checkers, policy experts, and educators, perceive responses to misinformation to address its spread. Based on an analysis of 46 interviews with media professionals and other key stakeholders from Kenya and Senegal, we find divergent perceptions of what regulatory interventions are needed to slow the spread of misinformation in the two countries. In Kenya, stakeholders advocated for self-regulation rather than government intervention to curb misinformation, while in Senegal, they called for more government regulations to address its spread. Additionally, interviewees perceived regulatory approaches, such as proposed laws to address misinformation, as reactive solutions, often resulting from a specific incident in the country, and educational approaches, such as requiring media literacy education in schools, as sustainable solutions with potentially longer-term outcomes.