Cameroon Disinformation Profile

Cameroon Media Environment

Cameroon is ranked 134 out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index. Journalists face risk of arrest when reporting on sensitive subjects like the unrest in English speaking regions and there is a culture of self censorship in the media. 23% of Cameroon's population use the internet as of 2017.

Domestic Tensions and Disinformation

A number of citizen journalists have spread unverifiable information about the Anglophone Crisis which relates to Anglophone separatists who are in conflict with the government military.

There is tension online between supporters of opposition politician Maurice Kamto and supporters of resident Paul Biya use ethnic slurs and attack each other online.

COVID-19 Disinformation

There are a range of conspiracies theories some about a New World Order, others about resistance due to prior contraction of Malaria, one promoted by a Bishop supporting a plant-based remedy, and a belief that the government is artificially inflating numbers in order to receive more aid. There is vaccine skepticism concerning the Gates family as well as hesistation about western doctors after French doctors were filmed joking about testing COVID vaccines on Africans.