Peter Cunliffe-Jones

Africa Check founder; former AFP reporter and editor

Peter Cunliffe-Jones founded Africa Check in 2012 after years as a reporter and editor for Agence France-Presse. Rather than a single headline investigation, his contribution lies in building an institution that systematically examines public claims and develops independent fact-checking in Africa. He helped develop the International Fact-Checking Network’s principles and researches misinformation’s actual effects, media literacy and ways to evaluate responses to false information. He also tackles the contested boundary between countering manipulation and restricting free expression, arguing in his published work that punitive legal responses may fail to address the problem and deserve scrutiny alongside misinformation itself.