Since late 2025, a vast ecosystem of fake social media accounts has been targeting countries in the Alliance of Sahel States and their junta leaders. RFI's Fact-Checking Unit and France 24's Observers have been investigating this network, which is spreading disinformation across West Africa.
Several social media accounts – with names such as Scoop Africa, La Dépêche africaine and La Voix du Faso – have been impersonating media outlets in order to discredit the governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – the three members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), the military and political pact formed in September 2023.
