[Rapport] Ingérence étrangère : «Facebook a indirectement contribué à la réélection de Macky Sall en 2019»
The social network that became Meta is said to have partly enabled the former head of state to secure his second term. Other actors are said to have played a more or less decisive role in this effort, proving that Senegal is not immune to external interference in election matters. This is what the AcfricTivistes report on Manipulation and Foreign Interference through Information (FIMI) in the country (July 2025) reveals, published last Saturday. The document consulted by Seneweb identifies several actors, but we have selected seven. All but one (Anonymous), were tasked, according to the investigators, with re-electing Diomaye Faye's predecessor six years ago and subsequently polishing his image in the world. The subtitles are from the editorial staff.
Warning
“The analysis of the February 2019 presidential elections made it possible to identify several recurring patterns, revealing sophisticated digital strategies aligned with FIMI logic (Foreign Manipulation and Interference through Information). Artificial amplification was a major influence tactic during Senegal's February 2019 presidential election. It involved the use of bots and armies of coordinated accounts to artificially boost certain content or keywords into digital trends, creating a false impression of popular support for candidate Macky Sall's messages.
"This phenomenon is often coupled with astroturfing operations - a deceptive practice consisting of concealing the true sponsor of a campaign or message (political, commercial, associative), to give the illusion of a spontaneous popular movement - where campaigns simulating popular citizen movements (real) are orchestrated by entities, with the aim of manipulating public perception. Several photomontages circulated on X (ex Twitter) and Facebook showing large crowds of activists during the travels of candidate Macky Sall. Added to this is narrative seeding , a strategy consisting of subtly injecting targeted false narratives (artificial) into organic conversations, often through influencers (corrupted or manipulated), fake profiles or programmed comments (artificial intelligence). This technique exploits sensitive themes (fear, indignation, patriotism) in order to maximize engagement, radicalize opinions and disorient voters in their decision-making process.
"Finally, a major dimension relies on digital PsyOps techniques (psychological operations). Emotional manipulation, exploiting sensitive themes (religion, ethnicity, race, etc.) in order to maximize engagement, radicalize opinions, and disorient voters in their decision-making process."
Meta and Archimedes Group
“The social network Facebook indirectly contributed to the re-election of outgoing President Macky Sall in 2019. The abusive and restrictive features of its “community standards” were the main tools of interference and censorship.
"In February 2019, several activists, web activists, bloggers, and influential political figures saw their Facebook accounts suspended or their content censored without explanation or valid reason for some. The numerous mass reminders made by civil society organizations, partners of Facebook, notably AfricTivistes, were to no avail.
"The investigative journalists' collective "Forbidden Stories" recalls, in a February 2023 publication, [that Archimedes Group, an Israeli company specializing in disinformation for political purposes] would have influenced dozens of elections around the world, including that of 2019 which saw the re-election of President Macky Sall.
"In May 2019, a few months after the Senegalese presidential election, Meta (then Facebook) announced that it had dismantled a vast network of coordinated inauthentic behavior aimed at influencing public opinion in several African countries, including Senegal. This operation led to the removal of 265 entities (pages, Facebook and Instagram accounts, groups) linked to the Archimedes Group.
“Years later, in 2023, the Meta group (Facebook) unilaterally censored a series of content critical of President Macky Sall, including those denouncing his potential candidacy for a third term in the 2024 presidential election. Based on a compilation of extracts from speeches by certain government authorities, including President Macky Sall, which recalled the need to limit presidential terms to two, Facebook removed this content – which it described as “hate speech” – while warning of a restriction on publication of the account in question.
"To justify its actions, Facebook argued that the use of a monkey emoji in a video of President Macky Sall speaking was “degrading in nature” and constituted “hate speech”: “We have reviewed the reported content and confirm that it violates our hate speech policy. It should be noted that the speech itself is not a violation of our policies, but the use of the image of a monkey in the context of a critique of the president’s speech constitutes “dehumanizing speech.”
"By describing the use of a monkey emoticon in a video compiling President Macky Sall's statements on presidential term limits as 'dehumanizing speech,' Meta demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of Senegalese communication codes and local democratic issues. This arbitrary censorship of factual content of public interest—particularly ironic since it sanctions the dissemination of the president's own words on term limits—transforms the platform into an involuntary, but nonetheless effective, political actor in the Senegalese electoral ecosystem."
Oumar Ba
"Simon Allison's report, published in the Mail & Guardian, details an unprecedented digital operation led by Oumar Ba, a former strategist for Barack Obama's campaigns. Ba allegedly orchestrated, " from a discreet cell in Dakar, a vast data collection campaign across the country, mobilizing more than 4,600 anonymous volunteers to gather sensitive information on 3.5 million citizens ."
"The data—including age, profession, political affiliation, language, religion, among others—was processed by algorithms to design 552 targeted election campaigns, adapted to the local concerns of each department. This microtargeting system, reinforced by feedback loops on citizen expectations, made it possible to maximize electoral engagement in favor of the ruling candidate Macky Sall, while marginalizing opponents, mainly Ousmane Sonko."
StateCraft Inc
"The involvement of the Nigerian agency StateCraft Inc. in President Macky Sall's 2019 election campaign constitutes an emblematic case of external intervention in Senegalese political dynamics, through advanced techniques of political communication and manipulation of public perception. StateCraft Inc., an agency specializing in political communication and influence strategies on the African continent, was explicitly mandated by President Macky Sall's team to develop and implement a campaign intended to strengthen his image, mobilize the electorate and neutralize popular skepticism towards the power in place."
Spallian
"The 2019 presidential election in Senegal also marked a turning point in the strategic use of digital data for political manipulation. The French company Spallian, which specializes in predictive analytics, geointelligence, and the creation of data observatories, interfered in the electoral process. Its involvement in the campaign of incumbent President Macky Sall raises major questions regarding foreign interference, the protection of personal data, and electoral sovereignty.
Spallian claims to have been commissioned to build a data visualization solution for the Senegalese government, aimed at promoting public action and defining territorial priorities. According to the company's official brochure, this project involved "convincing key ministries and partners to share their data." This interference, both in the service of the state and a partisan actor, raises the question of the permeability between public data and political purposes.
"According to several sources, Spallian was commissioned by the presidential coalition in 2019 to structure an electoral strategy based on Big Data. Using its software (Memento for data capture via field networks and Corto for strategic campaign use), the company reportedly helped collect and process the personal data of more than 3.6 million Senegalese voters, constituting an electoral base segmented according to behavioral, geographic, socioeconomic, and identity criteria."
Kirjas Global Cabinet
"In 2022, The Africa Report magazine revealed that Senegal had acquired the services of an American lobbying firm for the first time in several years as part of a global campaign to improve the image of President Macky Sall. [This is] the Kirjas Global firm, paid to 'strengthen diplomatic and international efforts to promote Senegal, the exceptional efforts of President Macky Sall and the government's ambitious agenda.'"
Anonymous
"More recently in 2023, to the detriment of the ruling coalition, the Senegalese government denounced in a white paper the interference of a foreign group called 'Anonymous'. The document highlights that on May 26, 2023, hackers from this group of digital activists violently attacked the state's computer system, thus paralyzing its entire operation on the Internet. The hypothesis of privileged access to state databases, without a clear contractual framework or public transparency, fuels concerns about a possible misuse of resources and information of general interest for electoral purposes.
Commentaires (34)
They les aperistes !!!
Tout cela pour dire ça?
Tous les réseaux sociaux, d'une manière ou d'une autre, de la plus belle ou de la plus piètre des façons ont réussi à élire ou d'émettre quelques un. Rien ne nous est appris ici. Est-ce que Samba Ndiaye dineu dieul fonction?
Tout le monde sait que les gens au pouvoir ont réussi leur coup de maître en faisant le buzz sur les réseaux sociaux notamment twitter, Facebook, etc. Avec des influenceurs qui ont eu un rôle important.
Est ce de la manipulation aussi ?
Arrêtez de ruminer le passé, Macky n'est plus là. Travaillons pour construire ce pays bon sang au lieu de pondre ce type d'articles pour maintenir les gens dans la Psychose.
On vous attend sur des articles concernant l'économie, la culture, les techs utiles pour le pays.
il faut pas pousser loin aussi mon cher regarde ceux qui animent leurs débats ils sont pas outillés pour parler d'economie culture et autre ce pays ne vie que de la politique lactivité qui regroupe le plus de cancre
Etait ce une ingerence ????
Depuis la sortie du livre de Macky Sall, ils ont complètement oublié leurs devoirs en tant que dirigeants, ils investissent les médias (Habib Sy, Dame Mbodj et leurs journalistes et chroniqueurs alimentaires) pour ternir l'image de Macky Sall comme s'ils étaient au pouvoir pour cela, aux mêmes moments les populations de Touba pataugent encore dans les eaux de pluie, les sénégalais galèrent à organiser la rentrée des classes dans de bonnes conditions, le Mpox et la grippe sont en train de tuer comme des mouches.
Ces gens là se croient toujours dans l'opposition. Ils n'ont pas de bilan à part le partage du gâteau et 20 milliards de fonds politiques par pour deux nullards pendant que les enseignants et des policiers courent derrière des arriérés de salaire.
On va les dégager en 2029
votre probléme c'est MACKY sall que vous ne voulez pas lâcher l'absence le plus présent au sénégal vous pensez le nuire mais vous lui rendez service en parlant de lui sa cote de popularité remonte.
Les sénégalais élisent qui ils veulent!
Mettez des articles plus utiles waye! Inaf inaf
Pros était arrivé deuxième et il devait avoir un deuxième tour mais Macky a comploté avec Idy pour écarter Ousmane SONKO .
Donc tout ce qui est arrivé après ( détournement/tuerie) et de la responsabilité de Idrissa Seck
Imaginez un peu que cette vaste campagne sur son image, Firaouna Sall la déroule au moment où la presse sénégalaise (à partir de Liberation) accepte enfin de révéler les liens secrets de Macky Sall avec des officines Israéliennes pour sa campagne pour les élections présidentielles de 2019. Cette manipulation des élections de 2019, cette manipulation des données des sénégalais (des israéliens possèdent toutes les données sur vos identités), Zuckerberg en personne, en audition devant le sénat américain, donc sous serment, l'avait révélé. Il avait dit au sénat qu'il a arrêté les agissements d'une société israélienne, en utilisation de Facebook, pour influencer des élections présidentielles sénégalaises pour Macky Sall. Le journaliste Adama Gaye avait été le seul à en parler. J'étais le seul à en parler dans mes commentaires, sous les insultes des fanatisés comme d'habitude. Aujourd'hui, bizarrement, la presse sénégalaise fait comme si c'était une nouvelle découverte, pour en faire les unes de ces jours.
Ce qu'il faut retenir, c'est que c'est le même Macky Sall, pion des sionistes, qui poursuit l'utilisation de la même arme: le mensonge médiatisé dans le but de manipuler les sénégalais, pour le même chantier du nouvel ordre mondial.
Sonko a menti sur la dette cachée et le FMI a fermé les robinets. C'est ça l'actualité.
Un président nullard et un premier ministre gros menteur. Une économie bloquée à cause des règlements de comptes. L'avènement des nouveaux riches de Pasteef, fonds politiques de 9 milliards pour un premier ministre, un député qui se tape une 4x4 à 90 millions en moins de 18 mois à l'assemblée nationale. Un autre Farba est né.
l'Afrique refuse le développement mais enrichit les politichiens. Perpétuel recommencent
C'est de l'histoire ancienne.
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