Nigeria under attack from fake news peddlers, FG raises alarm

The Federal Government has raised the alarm over the alleged use of what it called “deep” fake news to attack it and its officials.

The Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, raised the alarm in an interview with newsmen on Saturday in Sal Island, Cape Verde at the 64th Conference of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation – Conference for Africa and the second edition of UNWTO Global Tourism Investment Forum.

Mohammed said fake news had worsened by becoming a weapon for naysayers to attack the government and its officials.

“As a matter of fact, Nigerians should know that we have graduated from ordinary fake news to”deep” fake news. The danger of deep fake news is that it is difficult to differentiate fake news from real news.

“They will take videos of what is happening in other lands, doctor them and freely circulate them as what is really happening in Nigeria. Ditto photographs. News stories are even worse because they embellish such fake stories with quotes and videos and even quote government officials as if they are real.

“This becomes more difficult for unsuspecting Nigerians to know the difference between fake news and real information,” he said.

The minister noted that at the beginning, purveyors of deep fake news were largely unknown online publications, adding that it was, however, unfortunate that otherwise reputable publications and some mainstream media had joined the bandwagon.

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Giving instances of deep fake news, the minister recalled the aftermath of the interview by Channels Television of Benue Governor, Samuel Ortom and a retired Navy Commodore, Kunle Olawunmi.

“After the interview, online and traditional newspapers were awash with stories that the station had been shut, while some said that the anchor people had been arrested.

Some even went to demonstrate the purported arrest of the anchor people, but till today, the station is still open.

The minister also recalled his recent official trip to Washington to engage with think tanks and global media outfits, during which a particular online publication twisted the purpose of the trip, claiming that he went with his aide to beg Twitter and Twitter shunned them.

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The minister said the fake news was made deep by the online publication by quoting the airline they travelled on, their seat number and even video clips showing them in the aircraft.

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Mohammed said the same online publication also went ahead to publish deep fake news about a US trip by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari.

He said with a deliberate intention to tarnish and destroy the government, the online publication claimed that Gambari and other officials were going to the US to infiltrate the ranks of agitators planning a protest against the President, who would be attending the United Nations General Assembly.

“The deep fake news was fabricated just to take the shine away from the government’s success in not only retaining positive GDP growth but surpassing all expectations crawling from 0.11 per cent two quarters ago to marginal .51 per cent in the last quarter and then 5.0 per cent,” he said.