iWatch Africa has conducted its Online Safety Monitoring Training, a programme designed to equip a new team of monitors with the knowledge, skills and tools to track, document and report online harassment and abuse directed at journalists in Ghana.
The training forms part of a broader initiative to safeguard press freedom, protect media workers from digital threats and generate credible data to push for stronger accountability and policy interventions. Over the next three months, the trained monitors will observe the social media activities of ten selected journalists across Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
Using DisinfoEye, a purpose-built monitoring platform developed by iWatch Africa, they will document incidents of online abuse in real time. Each monitor is tasked with recording at least 1,000 verified entries for 50 selected journalists or media personalities during the project period, culminating in a comprehensive final report at the end of month three.
Philip Kwasi Banini, Team Lead, welcomed participants by outlining the key aims of the project: to empower individuals with the skills to identify and resist misleading content; expose disinformation campaigns through data-driven investigations; foster media literacy among vulnerable populations, particularly students and marginalised communities; and collaborate with policymakers and technology companies to promote ethical information ecosystems.
“This initiative is not just about tracking abuse, it’s about protecting the voices that keep our democracy alive. When journalists are silenced by fear, the public loses access to truth,” he said.
Moro Seidu delivered a detailed presentation on the project overview and understanding online harassment and abuse against journalists. He explained the different forms of online harassment, such as doxxing, threats of violence, troll campaigns, sexualised abuse and disinformation attacks, emphasising that women journalists face unique, gendered and often sexualised threats.
Drawing from UNESCO’s 2021 report, he noted that 73% of women journalists globally have experienced online abuse, with many altering their reporting or abandoning stories entirely due to harassment. Moro also shared trends from iWatch Africa’s data, highlighting the rise of cyberbullying, coordinated troll campaigns and politically motivated disinformation attacks in Ghana, particularly targeting female reporters after political or investigative stories.
“Online abuse is a global problem, but in Ghana, it threatens press freedom in very real ways. By equipping monitors with the skills to document these attacks, we are building a strong evidence base to push for accountability,” Moro said.
The session moved into a hands-on segment led by Tonon Abdul-Shafiu Mahmud, an IT and Resources Personnel, who demonstrated the DisinfoEye platform and guided participants on how to accurately log abuse cases, apply filters and tags, and maintain consistency in reporting. A simulation exercise followed, allowing participants to practise identifying abusive content and entering cases into the platform as if in a live monitoring scenario.
The training concluded with a discussion on reporting requirements, documentation standards and the project timeline.
This initiative is part of iWatch Africa’s commitment to advancing digital safety, media freedom and the protection of human rights. The Online Safety Monitoring Programme is supported by Impact Amplifier.
