Africa’s Premier Information Integrity Summit to Take Place in Nairobi in October 2026

Africa’s premier information integrity summit to take place in Nairobi in October 2026

NAIROBI, 3 August 2026. The fifth edition of the Africa Facts Summit will take place on 21 and 22 October 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya. It brings together fact-checkers, journalists, researchers, technologists, policymakers and civil society actors at a critical moment for information integrity on the continent.

Previous summits have collectively convened more than 800 participants from over 30 countries.

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Returning to Nairobi

Africa Check, organiser of the annual summit, has moved this year’s gathering from Johannesburg to Nairobi. The decision was taken to ensure the widest possible participation from across the continent, which is the summit’s core purpose.

Nairobi holds particular significance for the summit. The first edition was held in the Kenyan capital in 2022, bringing together fact-checking organisations and experts from across Africa. The summit has since travelled to Mauritius, Ghana and Senegal.

A critical moment for information integrity

The 2026 summit comes at a time of rapid and profound change. The rapid adoption of artificial intelligence, increasingly sophisticated coordinated disinformation networks, rising digital fraud and scams and escalating geopolitical influence campaigns are reshaping how information is produced, distributed and consumed. Africa sits squarely inside these forces, not outside them.

Across the continent, these developments intersect with elections, conflict, public health, economic pressure and falling trust in institutions and media – with real consequences for communities, democracies and lives. They create new challenges for journalists, fact-checkers, researchers, policymakers, civil society and technology communities, while at the same time opening opportunities for new approaches to strengthening information integrity.

Now in its fifth year, the summit convenes a growing community of organisations working across languages, regions and disciplines to build public resilience to misinformation and disinformation.

What to expect

The 2026 programme will feature panel discussions, workshops, presentations and interactive sessions on the most pressing issues shaping the information ecosystem today. Themes include:

• The impact of artificial intelligence on information integrity
• Disinformation networks and platform accountability
• Elections and democratic resilience
• Foreign influence operations
• Media literacy and public trust
• The long-term sustainability of the information integrity sector

“The information challenges facing Africa do not stop at national borders. They are increasingly interconnected across countries, languages, platforms and communities,” said Hlalani Gumpo, Africa Check’s Head of Outreach and Impact. “The summit provides an important opportunity for the people working across these different contexts to come together, learn from one another and strengthen the collective response. We are pleased to bring the summit back to Nairobi and look forward to welcoming participants from across the continent.”

A growing continental network

The 2026 summit also builds on the growth of the Africa Facts Network, a continental community of fact-checking organisations working across more than 30 African countries. The Network currently has 58 member organisations.

This year’s summit marks a further milestone with the establishment of the Africa Facts Network Advisory Committee, reflecting the maturing of a continental ecosystem that has grown well beyond any single organisation or country and providing strategic guidance and deeper collaboration among members.