While these measures take hold, individual users can attempt to play more active roles in shutting down misinformation. Bernice Ololade, a Lagos-based news editor says she’s seen a change in her 55-year old mother’s awareness about misinformation since having a major talk about WhatsApp broadcasts a year ago. “She now comes to me to check some of them and she just ignores the rest,” she explains.

But not everyone has such luck, especially with heightened public anxiety amid the coronavirus outbreak. “I tried sensitizing those in some of the WhatsApp groups I belong to but someone asked if I am an agent of the Chinese government,” says Finnih.

“I ended up leaving the group.”

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