Curbing the Spread of Mis/Disinformation and Hate Speech in South Sudan

Since its independence in 2011, South Sudan has continued to navigate a turbulent political landscape fraught with instability and communal tensions. The digital space has emerged as a reflection of this volatility, as well as its primary amplifier. Here, misinformation, hate speech, and disinformation surge, stirring confusion and communal conflict.

A 2023 Digital Rights Frontlines (DRF, former DefyHate Now South Sudan) study finding revealed that disinformation and misinformation fuel violence among communities in South Sudan. From July to August 2025, a joint media monitoring conducted by Journalist for Human Rights (JHR) and DRF revealed a sharp rise in polarised and harmful online content, directly correlated with ongoing political tensions, including government reshuffles and ethnic conflict.

Data from the monitoring shows that Facebook has overwhelmingly dominated, among other social media platforms, with harmful content accounting for 86.3% of flagged posts, where misinformation accounts for 31.4%, hate speech 29.4% and disinformation 27.5%.

The analysis confirmed that over 62% of flagged posts were deemed highly likely to incite offline harm, such as violence or social division. This synchronisation between political volatility and digital harm suggests that the digital space in South Sudan is often instrumentalised during periods of instability and conflict.

The digital realm effectively serves as an advanced warning system for potential offline violence, where actors spread rumours of retaliatory violence or signal intent before physical mobilisation occurs. The country's situation presents a combination of infrastructural constraints, behavioural patterns, and political instability that makes the information ecosystem vulnerable to manipulation.

The critical contributing factor is that many social media users lack the fundamental skills required to critically assess the credibility of online content, making them highly susceptible to manipulation and misinformation.

Compounding this vulnerability is the accountability deficit, where many harmful posts are made under fake names or anonymous accounts, effectively reducing the fear of legal or social repercussions and fanning the proliferation of divisive narratives.

At the core of the institutional response is 211 Check, a flagship project under DRF, which functions as an independent fact-checking and information verification desk.

Through this programme, we fact-check socially and politically sensitive online content, breaking news and potentially harmful information, ensuring that South Sudanese citizens are fed the truth, as is their right. The 211 Check platform is also gazetted for South Sudanese fact-checkers to publish articles, reports, infographics and data stories that counter misinformation and disinformation.

In partnership with IREX, we also implemented the SIMA Project in 2024, establishing Editorial Fact-Checking Desks at partner radio stations in Juba, Wau, Aweil, Kuajok, Kapoeta, and Abyei. The project facilitated the training of 36 journalists, integrating fact-checking skills directly into established newsrooms, which improved the quality of journalistic content produced by the partner stations.

This year, in partnership with UNESCO, we established five more fact-checking desks at five partner stations’ newsrooms in Yei, Rumbek, Malakal, Torit and Yambio, and also trained over 20 reporters of the partner stations on editorial fact-checking, media monitoring, and information verification.

The two projects professionalised the media sector and elevated the standard of journalistic integrity at the partner stations. The strategy focused on building institutional trust by establishing credible sources within formal media structures.

Among similar interventions this very year, our partnership with JHR saw the implementation of joint projects on tackling rising mis/disinformation and hate speech through community forums, media and information literacy training for CBOs/CSOs and community members in Juba and across 5 states in South Sudan.