Africa’s first independent fact-checking organisation

Africa Check is a non-profit organisation set up in 2012 to promote accuracy in public debate and the media in Africa.

Africa needed an organisation dedicated to holding public figures accountable for what they said, and debunking dangerous false statements.

Facts matter. Every day across Africa, people make decisions, big and small. To do this, they rely on publicly available information. Often that information is misleading or just plain wrong.

Rumours that the polio vaccine caused infertility and was part of a plot to reduce the Muslim population rippled across northern Nigeria in 2002 and 2003.

The baseless claims were shared in communities and believed by leaders of several states in the region, who then fomented a boycott of the vaccination campaign against polio. This led to a surge in cases.

Compounding the problem of public distrust was that the media reported these claims without interrogating them.

By the time the harmful claims were withdrawn, the damage had been done. The devastating disease, which was on the retreat worldwide, spread to other West African countries, and the world.

What we do

Our holistic approach to fact-checking includes publishing reports and factsheets, media literacy, running awards and training journalists

A key goal for Africa Check is to foster and support a community of nonpartisan fact-checkers across the continent.

We sort fact from fiction, every day. We identify important public statements, interrogate the best available evidence and publish fact-checking reports to guide public debate. You can read our reports, spot checks, factsheets and guides on our website.

But fact-checking alone won’t address the complex problem of false information and a lack of access to accurate information in Africa. Our multi-pronged approach fosters fact-checking and makes it easy to get reliable information on important topics.

Since 2014, our annual African Fact-Checking Awards have recognised journalists who have debunked dangerous and misleading statements in the public domain.

A key goal for Africa Check is to foster and support a community of nonpartisan fact-checkers across the continent. To this end, we launched the Africa Facts network in 2017 – a community of African fact-checkers who share knowledge and skills, and collaborate to fight the spread of false information.

Our annual fellowship programme for journalists serves the same purpose. It gives fellows the opportunity to get in-depth fact-checking training, practical experience and insight into running a fact-checking organisation.

In 2020, we kicked off #KeepTheFactsGoing, a media literacy campaign in six languages. Each week we send out a WhatsApp voice note that brings fact-checking skills to our audience and debunks common health myths. The episodes are also aired on local radio stations in South Africa, Nigeria and Senegal.

Access to accurate information is an important part of both fact-checking and day-to-day life. Our Info Finder tool, a repository of facts from the work of African fact-checkers, helps journalists and the public find good quality data.

Africa Check also publishes independent fact-checking research and evaluations to increase understanding of the impact of fact-checking, promote fact-checking research in Africa, and develop evidence-based approaches in the field.

Our Impact

Improving public debate and strengthening democracy depends on our work having a sustainable impact. We rigorously track and measure progress toward these goals

Improving public debate and strengthening democracy depends on our work having a sustainable impact. We rigorously track and measure progress towards our organisational objectives.

Collectively, our team of nearly 40 has published more than 1,300 fact-check reports and fact-checked over 1,800 claims, published 180 factsheets and 47 guides on contested issues and trained 4,500 journalists on verification best practices.

More than 17 million people have visited our website, with over 23.5 million page views.

Claims we’ve fact-checked

We fact-check claims on a wide range of topics, but prioritise serious policy-related claims about health, the economy, education and electoral politics, as these directly affect people’s lives. Health claims were the focus of 25% of our English fact-checks and 45% of our fact-checks in French.

False, unproven or misleading claims may be made by public figures, political parties, organisations, journalists and social media users who publicly state the claim as fact. In English, 45% of the claims we fact-checked were by political entities, while 48% of the claims we fact-checked in French were by the news media.

Based on our rating system, 27% of the claims we rated in English and 2% of claims rated in French were correct.

Our five organisational goals

Identify and reduce the circulation of false and misleading claims on key topics
Ensure accurate information is made more available to the public and policy-makers
Ensure the public and policy-makers retain a more accurate understanding of key topics
Foster fact-checking skills among the public, particularly young people
Help develop a community of nonpartisan fact-checkers across the continent

Our measurement approaches

Routine tracking. To measure whether we are improving from previous years, we routinely and quantitatively track agreed indicators of progress in our five organisational goals.
Anecdotal evidence. To support our quantitative metrics, we collect anecdotal evidence. This is done informally, relying on testimony, public references and statements mentioned in passing. Although more difficult to obtain and track, this evidence provides a rich archive of stories that help us build an overall argument for fact-checking.
Surveys and support for research and case-studies. We conduct formal and informal surveys and case studies to gain more insight into various aspects of fact-checking. On occasion, we support external research studies and evaluations by independent academics to help us gain an objective understanding of the impact of our work.