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Fighting fake news with AI — how west Africa’s Dubawa is transforming fact-checking

Daily Maverick · 🇿🇦 public South Africa · · 910 words · By Ibrahim Ismail
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What to know about Fighting fake news with AI — how west Africa’s Dubawa is transforming fact-checking

In their modest office in Abuja, Nigeria, Monsur Hussain and his team of software developers and AI researchers are debating ways to improve the next generation of fact-checking technology.

Claims checked 10
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center67%
Right33%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

In their modest office in Abuja, Nigeria, Monsur Hussain and his team of software developers and AI researchers are debating ways to improve the next generation of fact-checking technology.

Why it matters

Laptop screens flash with lines of code and machine-learning models while the group compares test results and revised algorithms, demonstrating how AI could better identify fact from fiction.

Common ground

Hussain is head of innovation at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), a west African media innovation and development think-tank that uses investigative journalism, research and technology to improve journalism, promote accountability…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-16-fighting-fake-news-with-ai-ho…

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 10 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 5
info Single Source 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified Verified 1
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Claim 1: “The Nigerian Communications Commission reports that Nigeria has more than 148 million active internet subscriptions”
CORROBORATED
Both Nairametrics and Capital FM cite the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reporting internet subscriptions over 148 million.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Nigeria has a lower-middle-income, mixed economy and emerging market, with expanding manufacturing, financial, service, communications, technology, and entertainment sectors. It is ranked as the 52nd-…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Nigeria
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Federal Ministry of Education is a part of the Federal Ministries of Nigeria. It regulates secondary and tertiary education in Nigeria. Its headquarters office is located at Block 5A (8th Floor), …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Ministry_of_Education_…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Airtel Networks Limited (Airtel Nigeria), commonly known as Airtel, is a leading mobile network operator in Nigeria. According to the Subscribers statistics released by Nigerian Communications Commiss…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airtel_Networks_Limited
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 2: “the chatbot has verified more than 6,000 claims and has been used in more than 32 African countries”
SINGLE SOURCE
The specific statistics (6,000 claims, 32 countries) are not corroborated by the provided evidence; only the general existence of the tool is confirmed.
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web search NEUTRAL — DUBAWA is an independent verification and fact-checking project, initiated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) to help amplify truth in public discourse ...
https://dubawa.org/
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web search NEUTRAL — Dubawa. 9,155 likes · 93 talking about this. DUBAWA is your trusted fact-checking resource in Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal and Ivory Coast.
https://www.facebook.com/dubawa/
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web search NEUTRAL — Dubawa is guided by firm principles of accountability, truth and collaboration; by creating a community for citizens to report and question the information posited by the media, the government and inf…
https://ghana.dubawa.org/
verified
Claim 3: “the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), a west African media innovation and development think-tank”
VERIFIED
The CJID official 'About' page and other web results explicitly define it as a West African media innovation and development think-tank.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The European Journalism Centre (EJC) is an independent, non-profit institute, based in Maastricht, Limburg, The Netherlands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Journalism_Centre
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Innovation Journalism is journalism covering innovation. It covers innovation processes and innovation (eco)systems. In 2008, Innovation Journalism was listed by the World Economic Forum as one of sev…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation_journalism
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Oyedapo Oyekunle "Dapo" Olorunyomi (born 8 November 1957) OON, is a Nigerian journalist. He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Premium Times, an online Nigerian newspaper. He is also the chief ex…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dapo_Olorunyomi
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 4: “The team created a chatbot for the Dubawa website and WhatsApp”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the creation of a chatbot for the Dubawa website and WhatsApp.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list of fact-checking websites includes websites that provide fact-checking services about both political and non-political subjects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fact-checking_websites
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web search NEUTRAL — The team also developed a chatbot for the Dubawa website and WhatsApp, enabling users to assess claims within seconds. The tool includes an audio feature that extracts claims from recordings and prepa…
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/team-creating-ai-tools-tackle…
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web search NEUTRAL — DUBAWA ChatBot Application. Since it was launched, fact-checkers in Sierra Leone have begun to find life in fact-checking a lot easier.
https://dubawa.org/dubawa-chatbot-your-go-to-fact-checking-h…
+ 1 more evidence source
help
Claim 5: “Ebube Glory Nwankwo, a media researcher at the CJID”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found to confirm Ebube Glory Nwankwo's role as a media researcher at CJID.
help
Claim 6: “A study titled Fake News and Public Trust in Online Media: A Study of Abuja, Nigeria discovered that 75% of internet users polled frequently encountered fake news on their principal social media platforms”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found for the specific study titled 'Fake News and Public Trust in Online Media: A Study of Abuja, Nigeria'.
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Claim 7: “It also has an audio tool that pulls claims from recordings for fact-checking”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources, including the CJID official page and news reports, confirm the existence of an audio tool that extracts claims from recordings.
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web search NEUTRAL — Transcribe, analyze, and extract claims from any audio content—whether it's radio, podcasts, YouTube videos, or interviews. The Dubawa Audio Platform brings you closer to the insights you need, across…
https://www.dubawa.ai/
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web search NEUTRAL — “Thankfully, Dubawa’s Audio AI tool came through, accurately transcribing the conversation, which included Nigerian English and Pidgin. It saved me a lot of time and allowed me to focus on verifying t…
https://gijn.org/stories/africa-journalism-building-ai-inves…
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web search NEUTRAL — The team also developed a chatbot for the Dubawa website and WhatsApp, enabling users to assess claims within seconds. The tool includes an audio feature that extracts claims from recordings and prepa…
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/team-creating-ai-tools-tackle…
info
Claim 8: “making it Africa’s largest online market”
SINGLE SOURCE
While Capital FM makes this claim, other sources mention Nigeria as the largest 'mobile' market or Facebook's largest market, but do not explicitly confirm it as the 'largest online market' overall in a corroborated way.
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web search NEUTRAL — Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, is visiting Nigeria for a few days. Zuckerberg says he’ll be “meeting with developers and entrepreneurs, and learning about the startup ecosystem in Nigeria” duri…
https://qz.com/africa/770002/mark-zuckerberg-is-in-nigeria-f…
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web search NEUTRAL — Nigeria's market dip and Dangote's net worth decline. The significant fall coincided with the Nigerian Exchange's worst trading session in 2026.
https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/leaders/africas-ric…
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web search NEUTRAL — 8. Nigeria is Africa’s largest mobile market with over 85 million subscribers. 9. Recent developments in the payments space means that online and mobile transactions will make a huge footprint in the …
https://www.gistmania.com/talk/topic,80768.0.html
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Claim 9: “He led the development of Dubawa AI, a fact-checking tool launched in 2024”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm Monsur Hussain led the development of Dubawa AI and that it was launched in 2024.
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web search NEUTRAL — Welcome to the official Mansour YouTube channel!Mansour is an animated comedy series about an active, life-loving, 12 year old boy and his adventures with hi...
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZdwpMSKYFHqdSdalJFr71Q
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web search NEUTRAL — 1Imams of Yemen. 2Modern given name. Toggle Modern given name subsection. 2.1Mansur. 2.2Mensur. 2.3Mansoor. 2.4Mansour. 2.5Similar. 3Middle name. 4Surname.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mansur
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web search NEUTRAL — Aug 10, 2026 · Dr. Muntazar Monsur is an Associate professor of Landscape Architecture at Texas Tech University and a prominent early-career scholar in environment-behavior research focusing on early …
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/larc/DoLA-about/Faculty_and_Staff/…
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Claim 10: “Hussain is head of innovation at the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID)”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent web sources confirm Monsur Hussain is the Head of Innovation at CJID.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 1970s (pronounced "nineteen-seventies", commonly abbreviated as the "Seventies") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on 1 January 1970 and ended on 31 December 1979. It was a very si…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_Bangladesh
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web search NEUTRAL — Monsur Hussain. Biography. Software Developer.CJID and CIPE set to train journalists and CSOs on Tracking Corrosive and Constructive Capital Inflows to Nigeria. CJID/CIPE Awards $1,900 to Tech Innovat…
https://thecjid.org/monsur-hussain/
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web search NEUTRAL — Monsur Hussain and his team are at the forefront of a quest to check fake info at the door.He led the development of Dubawa AI, a fact-checking tool launched in 2024 to help journalists and the public…
https://capitalfm.africa/the-team-building-ai-to-help-africa…
+ 1 more evidence source
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.