Swipe Smarter: Legit.ng Launches Free Fact-Checking Course to Clean Up Your Feed

Following the success of its first media literacy campaign, Legit.ng, a leading Nigerian digital media outlet, is spotlighting the power of young people to shape the future of online spaces through the launch of a free, edutainment-style fact-checking course. This initiative empowers social media users, especially digital-savvy youth, to detect, challenge, and reduce misinformation and disinformation on platforms where it spreads the fastest.

Starting August 25, the 14-day campaign rolled out on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other key platforms. These are the very spaces where young Nigerians and Africans express themselves, engage with news, and, too often, encounter misleading content. The course is a direct response to this challenge — positioning youth as consumers of content and agents of truth and digital change.

A vibrant coalition of youth-focused voices supports the campaign:

• Influencers and creators, including AkwaMan, Lulu Official, Tomike Adeoye, Aproko Doctor, and others across Nigeria, will be joining the movement, sharing bite-sized, engaging content with fact-checking tips tailored for their followers.
• Legit.ng has also partnered with leading African fact-checking organizations — Africa Check, an independent, non-partisan organization which assesses claims made in the public arena using journalistic skills and evidence, and DUBAWA, an independent transnational verification and fact-checking initiative of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID) working across West Africa to tackle information disorder and strengthen media literacy — to co-create expert-backed content that enhances media literacy with credible, easy-to-understand insights.

Read also

“Will Nigeria learn from this?” Expert reacts as South Korea bans phones from classrooms

“We’re not just telling people what misinformation is, we’re showing them how to spot it, verify it, and stop it from spreading,” said Rahaman Abiola, the Editor-in-Chief at Legit.ng. “By meeting our audience where they are — on TikTok or Instagram — we’re breaking down complex topics with an accessible, entertaining approach,” he added.

"For over a dozen years, we have worked at reducing the spread of misinformation through various means such as fact-checking, media training, and digital literacy campaigns," David Ajikobi, Africa Check's Nigeria Editor, said. "In the past few years, we have ramped up efforts towards building the capability of the public, especially young people, in spotting false information and verifying media content amid increasing use of AI in disinformation schemes," he added.

The course is designed for everyone, including baby boomers, Gen X, Y, and Z users, and first-time content creators. It is entirely free to access on Legit.ng’s platforms and social media channels. Each lesson combines expert-backed content with relatable language, interactive elements, and real-life examples.

Read also

Dangote announces new skills, job opportunities for Nigerian youths

Legit.ng invites all media consumers, educators, creators, and changemakers to follow and engage with the campaign across its official social media pages, as well as those of its partners:

• @legit.ng (Instagram) and @legitngnews (TikTok)
• @africacheck (Instagram) and @africacheck_nigeria (TikTok)
• @dubawafacts (Instagram) and @dubawafacts (TikTok)

Together, we can create a more informed, resilient digital community, one post at a time.

Source: Legit.ng