LAGOS, Nigeria — Social media giant, Facebook, has announced a new partnership with Africa Check, an independent fact-checking organization — to cover more African languages.
The investment is also to help the fight against the dissemination of fake news.
“Our third-party fact-checking programme is just one of many ways we are doing this, and with the expansion of local language coverage, this will help in further improving the quality of information people see on Facebook. We know there is still more to do, and we are committed to this,” Facebook’s Head of Public Policy in Africa, Kojo Boakye said in a statement.
According to a joint statement released by Africa Check and Facebook on Wednesday, the number of languages covered by the fact-checking effort will expand by 10.
This will include South Africa’s Afrikaans; Swahili, widely spoken in Kenya; Nigeria’s Yoruba; and Wolof, native to Senegal.