The Trends in Gendered Disinformation During Togo Elections, is a groundbreaking report from the Togo Gender Disinformation project a collaboration between the Africa Women Journalism Project (AWJP) and TogoCheck. This initiative is part of AWJP’s broader Trends in Gendered Disinformation in Elections project, focused on understanding how gendered disinformation in online spaces affects women’s electoral participation.

The project investigates the types, channels, and emerging trends of gendered disinformation aimed at women candidates, activists, and voters. As part of the project, we developed Naka Bot, a chat bot that enables the public to report instances of potential gendered disinformation encountered online. Through this crowdsourced approach, we analysed 345 collected claims to identify patterns and assess the impact on women’s political engagement to determine what kinds of gendered disinformation exist in the online spaces and how it could impact women’s participation in the election process. 

Thanks to the support of Meedan, we are now able to share our findings. The report details:

• Types and Channels: Insights into the kinds of gendered disinformation prevalent in Togo’s online spaces and the main platforms used.
• Trends and Impacts: Examination of how gendered disinformation discourages women from participating in elections.
• Collusion and Spread: Analysis of potential coordination in spreading disinformation narratives.

This report serves as a resource for journalists, activists, and policymakers working to create safer online spaces that encourage, rather than inhibit, women’s participation in politics.