Nairobi - The United States government is gearing up to fight fake news - in Kenya.
The campaign by the US Embassy in Nairobi follows Kenya's disputed 2017 election. That election saw fake CNN and BBC broadcasts reporting misinformation, photos of violence that were actually from Tanzania and spurious blog posts that spread on social media including WhatsApp.
US Ambassador Robert Godec is asking young Africans to pledge to prevent the spread of fake media by verifying the source and validity before passing information along. The US will also help train local officials in being more responsive to news media to allow more fact-checking.
The campaign stands in contrast to what's happening in the US, where President Donald Trump has downplayed the role false information may have played in the 2016 election.
