2019 Polls: ‘How Whatsapp Strengthens, Undermines Nigeria’s Democracy’

WhatsApp, a cross-platform messaging and voice over service owned by Facebook, strengthens accountability and promotes inclusion in Nigeria’s democracy, particularly in the conduct of the 2019 general elections, according to Uk-Nigeria research findings.
It, however, also promotes the spread of “fake news” around the elections, the findings said.
The research which was jointly conducted by the Centre for Democracy and Development (Nigeria) and University of Birmingham (UK) presented key findings from a WhatsApp-sponsored research project on the role of WhatsApp in Nigeria’s 2019 elections.
Drawing on citizen surveys and interviews with political campaigns, the report underlines the ways in which WhatsApp has promoted the spread of “fake news” around elections but had also strengthened accountability and promoted inclusion in other areas.
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in 40 African countries, including Nigeria, due to its low cost, encrypted messages, and the ability to easily share messages with both individuals and groups.
The aim of the research project was to shed light on how the app is influencing Nigerian elections, particularly in light of concerns, in Nigeria, and across the globe, about social media usage and the spread of “fake news”.
The report, released on Monday in Abuja, titled, WhatsApp and Nigeria’s 2019 Elections: Mobilising the People, Protecting the Vote, highlighted how politicians and their aides deployed the app in reaching a large group of followers.
While presenting the report at the Yar’Adua Centre in Abuja, leader of the research team, Jonathan Fisher of the University of Birmingham, said the app helped less traditional power players to enter into the political arena, especially tech-savvy youth.
The team also included Idayat Hassan of CDD Centre, Jamie Hitchen (Independent Consultant) and Nic Cheeseman (University of Birmingham).
The research consisted of 50 interviews with political campaigns, activists, scholars and experts in Abuja, Oyo and Kano and a citizen survey (n=1,005) and focus groups in Oyo and Kano states.
In terms of organisation, the report noted that the political use of WhatsApp was increasingly sophisticated and organised at the presidential level.
It stated that by setting up multiple overlapping WhatsApp groups, organisations such as the Buhari New Media Centre (BNMC) and Atikulated Youth Force (AYF) – set up to support, respectively, the campaigns of President Buhari and his main opponent, Atiku Abubakar, could send messages to tens of thousands of people at the touch of a button by forming hundreds of groups of 256 members.