Does Africa's supposed digital disadvantage protect it from election interference?

Data analytics and strategic manipulation have become the new tools in today's politics, even in Africa.
Photo: Delwyn Verasamy, M&G
With about 13 African countries coming from the polls in 2024 and others preparing for municipal elections in 2026, some analysts suggest, perhaps a bit too confidently, that African countries have been spared the worst of election interference simply because they are not yet as digitally advanced as other states in the world. But is the continent really safeguarded, or do we just minimise the effect of interference by digital technologies?
As Africa undergoes a stagnation in its democratisation, increased attention is being paid to countries that still uphold democratic principles. This has prompted observers to assess how these nations are adhering to democracy or taking a decisive shift towards other
Still, many argue that things could be worse if digital interference ever decided to join the party. But digital interference has certainly been occurring in Africa, just not with the same intensity or visibility as in more technologically advanced states.
These states have integrated high-level digital infrastructure, innovation-driven economies and widespread access to
Online platforms such as Facebook, X, and YouTube become arenas for misinformation, disinformation and algorithmic manipulation. Social media bots, fake accounts and data-driven micro-targeting are used to spread false information and polarise public opinion. A study by
Using the
Contrary to this, the International Telecommunication Union puts Africa's internet
In Nigeria and Kenya, investigations have uncovered that Cambridge Analytica, the infamous data-crunching firm, played a shadowy role in manipulating elections in 2015 and 2017. Channel 4 News
Ahead of Angola's 2022 election,
In other cases, African states embraced biometric registration and digital results transmission
.
The only catch? They often forgot to bring cybersecurity along for the ride. In Kenya's
On the other hand, countries such as the DRC and Senegal are accused of violating basic rights to freedom of expression and assembly by resorting to internet shutdowns. These blackouts are used to suppress dissent and restrict information. But they cut citizens off from critical, sometimes even lifesaving information, conveniently timed before or during elections. Other evidence of this occurred in
Zimbabwe's August 2023 general elections were marred by accusations against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, including premature announcement of results and allegations of voter suppression and irregularities. During South Africa's national and provincial elections in May 2024, the electoral commission had to deal with technical glitches that sparked public worry. This included a brief outage of the election results dashboard at the Results Operating Centre in Midrand, as well as power outages during the vote counting process. Both countries encountered issues that undermined public trust in their electoral bodies. Notably, digital interference was not a major focus of concern in either case; apparently, it takes more than a few server crashes and power outages to steal an election.
It is fair to say that technologically advanced states do face greater vulnerability because of their reliance on digital infrastructure and widespread internet access. But Africa is not immune to election meddling; rather, its exposure to digital interference is currently less pronounced. This should not breed complacency. Instead, African nations must strengthen their electoral systems to avoid the pitfalls that have already compromised democracies elsewhere.
Thuto Khumalo and Mihle Kambula are international relations students at the University of Johannesburg.

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