Between September 21 and October 21, 2025, Ethiopia found itself amid an intensifying wave of information disorder and hate speech that touched nearly every aspect of public life. What was once largely confined to political discourse has now expanded into social, educational, and economic domains, reshaping how citizens access and interpret information. Misleading narratives, doctored visuals
including deep fakes and coordinated disinformation campaigns spread rapidly across social media platforms. 

These distortions not only disrupted public understanding but also threatened the nation’s digital safety, strained economic confidence, and deepened public mistrust toward institutions. As a result, the country’s information ecosystem became increasingly polarized and fragile, leaving individuals, communities, and organizations struggling to navigate a landscape dominated by uncertainty and manipulation.

During the monitoring period, we identified and debunked numerous coordinated hate speech and disinformation campaigns. The project’s trainees debunked several local and international claims, such as the grade 12 exam with clickbait posts that tricked people into registering and joining groups to view their results, and false claims that the government would force them to join if they didn’t pass the national exam. certain heated discussions pertaining to the recently launched GERD and early false allegations, with some global influencers covering the dam’s inauguration on TikTok, the trainees countered the controversial wage increase allegation, which is also included in the monitoring period. 

Fake sponsor games include scam online alleged betting games, traditional false perceptions of our society, particularly in relation to nutrition and food consumed by our society, and strong claims that could cause chaos, such as false claims of Ethiopia’s new nuclear program, which were linked to the current stability of the region, and alleged Ethiopia’s ambition to conquer other areas, including the Red
Sea and ports, by force. The claims that were refuted included the ongoing conflicts in the Amhara region and the unrest in Tigray. 

The Tikvah editorial team also noticed an enormous amount of disinformation and hate speech spread throughout that time. This year’s Irreecha celebration was rife with disinformation and hate speech; not only were the claims directed at Ethiopia, but the use of artificial intelligence was also detected. False claims about the current conflict in Ethiopia were made, some of which included Fano, Eritrea, and the TPLF as they attempted to collaborate and fight the federal government.