1 Global News Post 1

Synopsis:

Algeria has been going through political turmoil since 2019 when presidential candidate Abdelaziz Bouteflika had plans to renew his term for the fifth time, continuing his leadership from its beginning, in 1999. This called for citizens to peacefully protest, going out every Friday and marching with the crowd. While the people got what they wanted when the president resigned in April 2019, the protests continued as an objection to other government corruption.

Once the president resigned in 2019, they were planning an election later that year to determine who the new leader would be. From the citizen’s perspective, everyone in the government was corrupt, and they would only be satisfied with an appointed leader who was not associated with the current regime.

The Algerian people saw the new president-elect as a part of the same regime and collectively vowed to never vote for him.

This is where the issue of misinformation on media comes into play. As the elections were approaching, so was an increase in fake news. Photoshopped images began to circulate by pro-government social media pages, including photos of influential Algerian celebrities and athletes casting their ballots and old men getting attacked while trying to cast their ballots. There were also videos being spread of long lines of people waiting to vote. It was only until journalists and reporters got involved that the claims and rumors were sourced and debunked publically. The citizens of Algeria quickly saw this as the government’s attempt to get people to vote and continued with their boycott.

The election was held in December 2019 and even though voter turnout was a record low, citizens knew the numbers were manipulated by the government to show high voter turnout in favor of the new president, and the regime’s appointed leader was sworn in. The protests began to lose momentum after this and eventually ceased in February 2021. To this day, there are still heavy tensions between the government and Algerian citizens.

Discussion questions for the class:

Algeria announced stricter rules regarding fake news, even implementing a fine equivalent to $2,261 for each offense of involvement in the creation or spread of manipulated information (Dray 2020). Do you think this is an appropriate response to the rise of fake news? How successfully do you think this law will be? Do you think it will be picked up by other countries or a step in the right direction? Do you think it is the responsibility of the country or the social media platform to stop fake news?

Link to article:

Will Algeria disrupt internet access as election day nears?

Sources:

Dray, J. (2020, June 26). La réforme du code pénal algérien et ses conséquences. Par Jordana Dray, avocat. Village de la Justice. Retrieved January 31, 2022, from https://www.village-justice.com/articles/reforme-code-penal-algerien-ses-consequences,35903.html