UN sounds alarm over fake news in troubled Mali

Protesters gestures on a barricade put up in front of the Salam mosque of Badalabougou, where the influent Imam Mahmoud Dicko led a prayer dedicated to the victims of the clashes of the past two days in Bamako on July 12, 2020. (AFP)

• The UN’s high commissioner for human rights warned on Friday of a worrying surge of fake news in the West African state of Mali
• The UN made the warning ahead of ceremonies in Bamako on Friday by a coalition of protest groups to mourn the deaths of demonstrators killed in clashes last week

GENEVA: The UN’s high commissioner for human rights warned on Friday of a worrying surge of fake news in the West African state of Mali, which is battling a political crisis and extremist violence.
“We have reports that social media has been partially blocked — it can be seriously worrying because it is very important that people are able to access information,” the commissioner’s spokeswoman, Liz Throssell, said.
“But at the same time there are also concerns that there has been a lot of fake news disseminated on social media, a lot of messages online inciting violence.
“There are all these tensions and it risks inflaming tensions further,” said Throssell.
Such problems do not justify restricting the Internet, she said. “Shutting down the Internet can be extremely risky and can have unintended consequences.”
She reiterated a UN appeal for all parties in Mali to show restraint.
The UN made the warning ahead of ceremonies in Bamako on Friday by a coalition of protest groups to mourn the deaths of demonstrators killed in clashes last week.
According to the Malian government, 11 people died and 158 were wounded, while the UN says at least 14 demonstrators lost their lives.
The coalition is demanding that President ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who has been in power since 2013, step down.