The Resisting Information Disorder in the Global South project is a multi-country research initiative that explores and identifies the underlying drivers of information disorder across Sub-Saharan Africa, the MENA region, Latin America, and Asia, in an effort to understand their impact on freedom of expression, digital platform access, communication rights, and media literacy.
Led by the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa (CINIA) at Stellenbosch University under the Principal Investigator Herman Wasserman, and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Research ICT Africa has worked alongside research partners and associates to map and critically assess how regulatory efforts can effectively respond to these drivers. Now, following the completion of the project after three years of dedicated engagement and analysis, the project culminates in the publication Information Disorder and Resilience in the Global South: Structural Drivers, Governance, Media Literacy and Fact Checking.
Unpacking issues such as platform regulation, media and information literacy, and fact-checking, the publication presents diverse strategies and scholarship to counter the impact of information disorder on states, citizens, and information societies alike. In Chapter three, Research ICT Africa’s Dr Scott Timcke and Zara Schroeder hone in on the political economy of manipulated media flows, critiquing their ability to democratically disempower and undermine people’s agency to safely navigate online and offline public spaces. In response, they propose four high-level measures to regulate the dominant tech companies responsible for such coordinated content disruptions. These include: fostering digital pluralism; preventing digital power consolidation; implementing effective taxation for large digital corporations; and prohibiting harmful technologies by prioritising labour protection, human rights, and public safety in digital regulation. Read their contribution here.
This publication was originally published by the Centre for Information Integrity in Africa at Stellenbosch University on 28 April 2026.
