Fact-Checking in West African Journalism: A Growing Defence Under Financial Strain

In a region where a false claim can travel across WhatsApp groups faster than a newsroom can respond, fact-checking has become part of how journalism protects public trust. It is now fighting for its own survival.

Who is doing the work
West Africa has built a recognisable fact-checking sector. Dubawa, launched in 2018 by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development, works to build a culture of fact-checking in Nigeria and across West Africa through training and partnerships with media and civic groups.

In Ghana, GhanaFact is a non-profit project of FactSpace West Africa, set up in August 2019, and FactSpace also leads fact-checking initiatives in The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Africa Check, the continent's first independent fact-checking organisation, has offices in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal and the UK.

Collaboration has become a strength. Ahead of Ghana's December 2024 elections, Fact-Check Ghana, Dubawa Ghana and GhanaFact formed a coalition and ran Media Situation Rooms in Accra and Tamale from December 4 to 11 to spot and debunk election-related falsehoods.

GhanaFact describes another collaboration that brought together more than 100 fact-checking journalists from 35 news outlets. Today, GhanaFact's front page carries checks on claims about the economy and the judiciary, which shows how fact-checking now covers everyday political debate and not only viral hoaxes.

The work has also moved towards online influencers. In January 2026, the EU and Dubawa launched the "See the Pattern" campaign, and at one of its webinars West African content creators pledged to promote information integrity.

The funding problem
The sector is under pressure. Platforms and donors have pulled back. The Trump administration shut down USAID, which had given grants to fact-checkers worldwide, and Meta ended its third-party fact-checking programme in the U.S.

Meta has not yet closed its international programme but has signalled a shift towards crowdsourced Community Notes. In Africa the squeeze is sharper: one fact-checker told Poynter that most African fact-checking organisations have operated with limited resources for years, with far less funding than in North America or Europe.

The global picture is stark. A survey cited by Poynter found that three-fourths of the 100-plus fact-checkers surveyed by the International Fact-Checking Network are financially vulnerable or in crisis. Another Poynter report found that staff cuts at fact-checking organisations rose from 14.9% to 38.3% in a year.

Some groups are responding by sharing resources and building local networks, while others explore paid products to reduce their dependence on grants.

Why it matters for the region
The stakes are political as well as professional. An LSE analysis warned that information weaponized by state players such as Russia and China can fill the gaps left by weakened local journalism, especially where coups and countercoups embolden authoritarian regimes.

That concern is familiar to anyone covering the Sahel, where contested narratives and influence operations compete for attention.

What newsrooms can do
The first step is basic: verify before publishing, and treat a viral screenshot, a voice note or an official statement as a claim to test. Newsrooms can also partner with established fact-checkers, train staff in verification tools, and credit the fact-checks they rely on.

Funders and platforms, for their part, should recognise that cutting support does not make falsehoods disappear. It only leaves the field to those who spread them.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880
Sources
Dubawa, "How a Nigerian nonprofit is teaching fact-checking to journalists from West Africa" (Reuters Institute): https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-nigerian-nonprofit-teaching-fact-checking-journalists-west-africa

GhanaFact, "About Us": https://ghanafact.com/about/

GhanaFact, "Partners/Collaborations": https://ghanafact.com/collaborations/

MFWA/GhanaFact, "Ghana
Fact-checking Coalition ahead of December elections": https://ghanafact.com/mfwa-dubawa-and-ghana-fact-establish-ghana-fact-checking-coalition-ahead-of-december-elections/

Wikipedia, "List of fact-checking websites": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fact-checking_websites

Dubawa Ghana, "West African content creators unite against disinformation": https://ghana.dubawa.org/west-african-content-creators-unite-against-disinformation-at-the-eu-cjid-dubawa-webinar/

Nieman Lab, "Fact-checkers reckon with shrinking budgets and growing AI threats at GlobalFact 2026": https://www.niemanlab.org/2026/06/at-globalfact-fact-checkers-reckon-with-declining-grant-funding-and-ai-generated-disinfo-on-the-rise/

Poynter, "As tech giants retreat, Africa's fact-checkers are finding new ways to survive": https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2025/africa-fact-checking-minus-google-meta-support/

Poynter, "Despite funding cuts, most fact-checking projects are still standing": https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2026/fact-checking-projects-survive

-funding-cuts-duke-census/
Poynter, "Fact-checkers reached more people in 2025. That didn't help their finances": https://www.poynter.org/ifcn/2026/fact-checkers-financial-losses-strain/

Africa at LSE, "African social media is likely to see a rise in viral propaganda": https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2025/02/03/african-social-media-is-likely-to-see-a-rise-in-viral-propaganda/