WCC FEATURE: Combatting disinformation is complex—but must be done, webinar finds

A 3 December webinar organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), “Religion and Disinformation: How to be a trusted source,” offered case studies from African countries on how to prevent—and combat— disinformation.  Image: WCC 5 December 2024 The webinar was supported by the German Federal Foreign Office. Rev. Stanley Toddison, from the Presbyterian Church in Ghana, offered a case study on how misinformation and disinformation affected the launch of a new financing system in the church. As misinformation - and deliberate disinformation - about the financing system spread, largely via social media, the church faced decreased financial flows, agitations and mistrust, and other negative ripple effects. “People heard somebody say something, and they were just re-reporting what someone had said,” explained Toddison, adding that, at times, “people were intentionally concealing information.” While he acknowledged the “Presbyterian influencers” sometimes had more impact in immediate communications than the church’s official channels, ultimately in-person visits by the church moderator, and sharing of verified data to refute false claims, successfully stemmed the tide of misinformation. “What the church’s official channel does, it helps at least get the right information into the space,” said Toddison. Jane Ng’ang'a from the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network shared a case study about how the network coped with vast amounts of disinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic. As government officials were slow in providing accurate information, people started creating their own, she said. “Government channels took too long before providing information, and that gave people time to really bring in disinformation and misinformation to fill in the gaps,” she said. “There was limited access to accurate and contextually appropriate information.” In addition, limited funding for training and deployment of medical staff provided a breeding ground for disinformation, which quickly grew into conspiracy theories. Ng’ang’a showed how that, although much disinformation may be out of one’s control, laying the groundwork ahead of the next public health emergency could stem the tide. “I think that preparing and strengthening the multi-stakeholder engagement is quite critical,” she said. Lekan Otufodunrin, a journalist and communications expert from Lagos, Nigeria, offered comments from a media perspective on how journalists—and their audiences—can make sure they’re not sharing disinformation. “It’s important to counter it,” he said, urging people not to be “compulsive sharers” without checking their sources. He also acknowledged that checking information has become time-consuming for many people as they try to determine whether media outlets are reputable or not. “We live in an age where anybody can publish,” Otufodunrin said. “Almost everybody can be a journalist.” He advised people and organizations to work to develop their own standard through which they determine what’s reputable. “People need to train themselves that they cannot get information from just anywhere,” he said. “We need to crosscheck. We need to be very careful.” Otufodunrin also urged churches, when they respond to disinformation, not to adopt a dismissive tone. “Churches need to show they care, and they must also be very transparent,” he advised. WCC director of the Commission of Churches on International Affairs Peter Prove summarized the insights from the speakers, and challenged churches to learn from these experiences. “Disinformation has a very serious impact on the church itself and on the wider society,” he said. “The problem is, that we know social media has instantaneous and often wide global transmission—and it’s impossible to counter every time with direct personal engagement.” Sara Speicher, WACC deputy general secretary, who moderated the conversation, shared existing resources to help churches navigate this issue. “We know that there are many ways we can continue this conversation and continue the work,” she said. “We also have some existing resources that we could share to expand our general awareness of the realities of digital communication, and to make us more critical fact checkers." Watch the video of the webinar WACC - Communication for all WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs     See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland