Burkina Faso: The World’s Disinformation Lab Is An International Security Disaster – Analysis

Published by the Foreign Policy Research Institute

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(FPRI) — Burkina Faso is many things. The country is considered to be the epicenter of global terrorism today. It is ranked number one on the Global Terrorism Index Scale (2024), marking the first time in the thirteen years since the database’s inception that Iraq or Afghanistan have not topped the index. The country has been rocked by jihadist attacks on major towns like Djibo, with jihadists using drones and anti-aircraft guns to fight off government forces.

However, the regime’s propaganda forces paint Burkina Faso in a very different light. All appears well in the digitally-constructed alternate reality of President Ibrahim Traoré. In deepfake videos seen by millions worldwide, the country’s president is beloved by international stars such as Justin Bieber and Beyonce. Never mind that these stars have likely never heard of Burkina Faso, nor know anything about the country’s junta president. Traoré’s alternate reality represents an unsettling new world, one in which government-dominated social media attempts to balance the reality of societal collapse.

Traoré sees himself, or at least portrays himself publicly, as a visionary leader walking in the footsteps of Africa’s post-colonial generation. He pitches himself as an anti-Western, pro-Russian, pan-Africanist leader in the style of Thomas Sankara. Like junta leaders in neighboring Mali and Niger, Traoré is countering the Western-backed failure of democratic governance in Africa. While his approach reflects legitimate grievances with France, the United States, and others, the consequences of Traoré’s style of disinformation will have long-term effects on the political health of the Sahel, if not Africa more generally.

While the Sahelian country’s neighbors have experienced similar disinformation campaigns and problematic responses to governance failures, Burkina Faso is a particularly problematic case given the scope of violence, loss of state control, and the sheer level of disinformation emanating from state sources.