Voter, Beware! Misinformation is Everywhere
By Cliff Phiri
With just over a week until the 13 August polls the campaigns are entering the final stages. From rallies to radio phone-ins candidates are preparing to issue their final pleas to citizens, civil society organizations are deploying observers across the country, and the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) is putting the final pieces in place.
Every election is different. One of the defining dynamics of the 2026 election is the extent and intensity of digital campaigning. If you compare the number of citizens, and therefore voters, online to ten or even five years ago then it’s easy to understand why. According to the Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) there are around 25.3 million mobile subscribers in the country today, compared to just over 12 million ahead of the 2016 elections. Meanwhile, internet penetration is up from 39% to 67% over the same period.
This should be a positive. After all, it means more voters can hear directly from the candidates, even if they can’t make it to a rally. It means more opportunities to hear wider commentary around the elections and be exposed to a diverse set of voices and policy proposals. Critically, it means there are more ways for voters to receive important information about the electoral process and benefit from the various voter education efforts underway.
And yet as we move closer and closer to 13 August the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation threatens to overwhelm us all and undermine the efforts by various good faith actors to deliver free, fair and peaceful elections.
Misinformation is false, inaccurate or misleading information that is spread by mistake. It was not intended to mislead but may have that effect. Disinformation, on the other hand, represents something far more unscrupulous and is the construction or amplification of content with the express purpose of manipulating or deceiving people. We’ve all seen it. From the targeted attacks on the ECZ, to fake rumoured endorsements and notifications apparently issued by fake institutions.
So, what can be done? Together, we can halt the spread. In an age where news moves fast it is tempting to quickly forward the latest articles, video clips and rumours to friends, colleagues and wider networks without giving authenticity too much thought. What we need to do is to check that impulse and press pause until we’ve checked the source. This means thinking about where this report or clip coming from, what else we know about the account, organization or group pushing it, and assessing whether this is a respected source with a track record of sharing credible information.
Another safeguard we can all use is to make sure that we are receiving information and updates from trusted sources directly. For example, the various civil society organizations that are observing the elections and the ECZ itself. The latter has issued several rebuttals to its page in recent weeks in a bid to expose some of the fake reports circulating on various groups and channels.
How easy it is to verify a report varies case by case. Taking the time to fact check some of the information it contains is one way to get an indication of its overall accuracy. If you are unable to validate it then consider whether it is worth sending on, or if doing so then at least providing a health warning that this is unverified and you are unsure of its authenticity.
Another option available to us is to report any information that appears to be misleading, either intentionally or otherwise, and alert the relevant bodies that this information is circulating. This gives them the opportunity to respond accordingly and either confirm or deny its contents.
Fake reports and rumours are unlikely to go away anytime soon and so more broadly we also need to undertake a concerted effort to educate both ourselves and our communities about what misinformation and disinformation are, the various forms and guises it can take, the damage it can cause, and how we can try and guard against it so that we do not allow it the space it needs to mislead and manipulate. This needs to be a collective effort. As 13 August draws closer now is the time to unite against the scourge of misinformation and disinformation to ensure elections are free, fair and peaceful.
This article was originally published in the Zambian Daily Mail.