Some motorbike riders in the town of Yaounde have been schooled on Hatespeech and Fake news and how to mitigate its spread in the society. This was during a training organised by a Journalist for the Median Newspaper, Doh Bertrand whonis a cohort 3 fellow of #defyhatenow, AFFCameroon.

Doh Bertrand, #AFFCameroon Cohort 3 Fellow schooling bikers on dangers of spreading misinformation and fake news

The training that held Wednesday 16 December 2020, focused on sensitizing bikers on the dangers of spreading misinformation and hate speech which threatens national cohesion and togetherness.

At the end of the specialized meet-up session that at the Etougebe neighbourhood, the bikers took the commitment to counteract hate speech and fake news at their different spheres of influence.

Some of the participants pose with trainer in respect of COVID-19 barrier measures 

Speaking shortly after facilitating the session, #AFFCameroon Fellow cum organizer, Doh Bertrand Nua, told reporters that the training primarily aimed at bringing bikers to light on the dangers of misinformation, disinformation and malinformation as well as exchange ideas with them on how the rising rate of hate language in the country could possibly be curbed. “I decided to choose bike riders because they are a group of the people who easily interact with people from all class in the society in the course of their daily activities,” Doh explained. 

Participants following lessons 

He added that recent developments in the country has proven that bike riders are increasingly being used or manipulated to spread across messages of hate and division ignorantly. 

“They are the most targeted group in every planned protest or strike action in the country…people think they can easily manipulate bikers into violence for their selfish interest,” Doh stated.

He said it is on the basis of the developments coupled with an ongoing programme to cojnter hate and fake news in the country under #defyhatenow that he thought it wise to sensitize bikers on the aforementioned topics while going about their daily activities. 

For over an hour, the bikers were aside being schooled on the dangers of spreading fake news and misinformation thought techniques of identifying and verifying social media rumours/fake news, social media code of conduct, ways to stop disinformation and malinformation, how to counter hate language, encourage peace within their communities among others.
Speaking on behalf of his peers, Ngek James, president of the bike riders hail the initiative and lauded organisers for selecting them. 
He and his colleagues promised to extend the knowledge acquired to others within their union and community as well as pleaded for more trainings on how to counter hate.

By Moma S.