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US-led security efforts in Africa face torrent of pro-Russia propaganda, report finds

Russia is leading a surge of disinformation campaigns in Africa, using paid social media influencers and other tactics to promote and validate coups in places like Niger, according to new research.

Russia is leading a surge of disinformation campaigns in Africa, using paid social media influencers and other tactics to promote and validate coups in places like Niger, according to new research by a Pentagon-affiliated think tank. Such campaigns “have directly driven deadly violence, promoted and validated military coups, cowed civil society members into silence, and served as smokescreens for corruption and exploitation,” it said. It developed a $110 million drone base in the country to counter Islamic extremism, and Niger was the top American partner in the region until a July military coup upended the arrangement.

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