The Economist - USA (2019-07-20)

38 TheEconomistJuly 20th 2019

1

“W

hen i open my phone, I am

swamped by news,” says Matthew

Stanley, a driver in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.

He scrolls through WhatsApp, a messaging

service, bringing up a slick video for-

warded into his church group. In a tone be-

fitting a trailer for a horror film, the narra-

tor falsely claims that Muhammadu

Buhari, Nigeria’s Muslim president, is plot-

ting to kill Christians. Mr Stanley squints at

the tiny screen. “I think it’s fake news,” he

says. “I need to check the source.”

If only everyone were so sceptical.

WhatsApp, which has 1.5bn users globally,

is especially influential in Africa. It is the

most popular social platform in countries

such as Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and South

Africa. In the West it is common for people

to use multiple platforms such as Facebook

and Twitter (see Graphic detail) but in Afri-

can countries, where money is tighter and

internet connections patchy, WhatsApp is

an efficient one-stop-shop. The ability to

leave audio notes makes it popular among

illiterate people. But WhatsApp’s ubiquity

also makes it a political tool.

That much is clear from Nigerian presi-

dential and state elections in February and

March. As recent research by Nic Cheese-

man, Jamie Hitchen, Jonathan Fisher and

Idayat Hassan indicates, Nigerians’ use of

WhatsApp both reflects and exploits the

country’s social structures.

For example, Nigerians belong to much

larger WhatsApp groups than Westerners

do. A survey by Mr Hitchen and Ms Hassan

in Kano, a northern city, found that locals

are typically in groups of at least 50 people.

These may be made up of school acquaint-

ances, work colleagues or fellow worship-

pers. The larger the group, the more quickly

information can spread. And since these

groups often comprise friends and com-

munity leaders, recipients are inclined to

trust what they read.

Nigeria’s use of WhatsApp reflects its

political culture as well. Nigerian elections

may not be clean, but they are competitive,

points out Matthew Page of Chatham

House, a think-tank. “Big man” politicians

try to win through patronage rather than

policy. Both of the two main presidential

candidates, Mr Buhari, the eventual victor,

and Atiku Abubakar, had large social-me-

dia teams. They had dedicated WhatsApp

groups for supporters in every one of Nige-

ria’s 36 states and 774 municipalities.

The parties deny that they spread lies.

But they need not do so themselves. Being

close to a politician is often the surest way

to a steady income in Nigeria. That has led

to a cottage industry of social-media entre-

preneurs seeking to please. These “propa-

ganda secretaries”, as they are known, pro-

duce videos, tendentiously caption

photographs and disseminate memes for

ad hoc payments of up to $84 per month.

The aim is for a meme to go viral. That

way an ally of a political boss will notice

and perhaps slip the creator a bonus, a job

Social media and politics

What’s up with WhatsApp?

ABUJA AND JOHANNESBURG

The uses and misuses of Africa’s most popular messaging platform

Only connect

Source:ITU

Internet use, % of population

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2000 05 10 15 17

Ghana

Kenya

Nigeria

South Africa

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