The Mauritius IGF 2019 has just ended. Hosted by Halley Movement, the event, sponsored by among others AFRINIC, brought together top Mauritius government officials, law enforcement agents and representatives from the African Union (AU). The event had five sessions:
- Setting the pace to combatting online child sexual exploitation in Africa
- Cybersecurity Strategies
- Artificial Intelligence, fake news: A need for concern
- Parental awareness on child online protection
- Technological initiatives and Internet governance
AFRINIC staff member, Abiade Dosunmu was a key-note speaker during the third session, Artificial Intelligence, fake news: A need for concern. His Keynote centered on Fake News and how to fight it.
Abiade Dosunmu Speaking at the Mauritius IGF
Fake news is a mainstream avenue of spreading false news/information deliberately to mislead its audience. It is mostly disseminated on social media platforms and spreads quickly across the world. Abiade examined the effects of fake news in today’s society and touched on several types of Fake news. He also talked about the future of fake news – deep fakes – which introduces the use of artificial intelligence and neural networks in super-imposing images or videos on source images, and videos using machine learning techniques known as generative adversarial networks.
Finally, he explained simple and effective ways to combat fake news, stressing the importance of researching on, and paying attention to the news or information they read on social media. Moreover, it is vital for people to be careful about what they read on social media, engage in fact-checking, and ensure sources of news articles are legitimate before sharing any news or information.
