Senegal: Macky Sall declares war on fakes news

On Wednesday, August 2, during the Official General Awards Ceremony, Macky Sall called on the Minister of National Education to set up a structure capable of blocking the road to false information or fake news. Convinced of the profound technological, social and educational upheavals that the digital revolution can bring about, the Senegalese president finds it urgent to set up guards to avoid some deplorable practices. For Macky Sall, the transformation of educational practices must be framed. “We need to put in place a relevant system of these digital educational resources in order to make the most of them while avoiding the excesses and dangers of the moment. Hence the need, Mr. Minister of National Education to organize a strategic, collective and permanent watch to thwart the “Fakes news” and other false and malicious information,” he asks. Continuing, the Head of State adds: “the net is being completely sabotaged by these bad practices of the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). We have not designed the net to spend time insulting people in the most absolute anonymity, to speak ill of each other“. And to explain: “It is therefore saying that it is beneficial to mobilize the school around the use of digital educational resources for a renovated, effective, efficient and above all fair educational system. And to win this bet, we need the commitment of the entire educational community, which should draw inspiration from the nation’s illustrious personalities“. President Macky Sall also used this celebration of excellence to greet the “audacity and vision of Minister Serigne Mbaye Thiam behind this project to introduce digital educational resources in secondary education.”