With Kenya’s election in high gear ahead of the August 9th polls, StopReflectVerify.com has launched an evidence-based online quiz aimed at internet users among the 22.1 million registered voters. The quiz addresses key vulnerable areas of media literacy using social media insights. StopReflectVerify.com quiz aims to prompt behaviour change among Kenya’s 23.25 million internet users.
StopReflectVerify.com, a website that hosts an internet-based quiz focused on misinformation, has launched a new quiz focused on the Kenyan general election. The elections are reaching a fever pitch with Kenyans set to elect 1,450 members of the county assembly (MCAs), 290 members of the national assembly (MPs), 47 county woman representatives to the national assembly, 47 county senators, 47 county governors, and one president and deputy president. The media ecosystem of broadcast media and digital media presents various challenges that leave room for misinformation.
Chris Machin, Cultural Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, said at the launch, “Here in Kenya, the United States has contributed nearly $20m to strengthen Kenyan-led efforts to enhance accountability and transparency of the election process.” He continued, “As internet penetration continues to rise, the threat of misinformation persists online and offline. StopReflectVerify.com aims to engage them with a test on misinformation regarding the elections. People can test their knowledge and have an interactive learning experience.”
Kenyans have to contend with various kinds of misinformation. In some cases, there’s no intent to harm; content is presented out of context. In other cases, it is deliberately published for harm.
Mark Kaigwa, Founder and Team Leader of StopReflectVerify.com, said at the launch, “Messaging apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok play a growing role in the spread of news and information. The information disorder varies from platform to platform, and it will take vigilance on voters and greater work by platforms ahead of August 9th. A section of Kenyan internet users is being exposed to mis, dis, and mal-information. StopReflectVerify.com aims to counteract this by reaching those who may be fooled into forwarding, shamed into sharing or tricked by the trends. StopReflectVerify.com aims to solicit Kenyans and engage their friends, families, and peers to stop, reflect, and verify before sharing.”
The StopReflectVerify.com quiz was built through research and evidence collected from surveying +100,000 social media updates across the web in 2022. In addition, support in the form of data and insights from fact-checking initiatives AfricaCheck.org and PesaCheck.org contributed to a deeper understanding of what fact-checkers are doing in response. This evidence-based approach is what turns the quiz from an online game to a critical resource in battling the spread of misinformation on the internet and social media platforms.