A new report has found that most Nigerians are worried artificial intelligence will be used to spread political misinformation ahead of the 2027 general elections, even as they continue to depend heavily on social media for political news.
The report, titled “The Algorithm and the Ballot Box,” was published by SB Morgen Intelligence, a market and security intelligence firm. It surveyed 829 respondents across eight states covering all six geopolitical zones between April and May 2026, and combined the findings with desk research into Nigeria’s information ecosystem, legal framework, and platform policies.
According to the report, concern about AI generated political content is high, but that concern does not always translate into caution. About 52.1% of respondents said platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, X, and TikTok are their main source of political news, with WhatsApp reaching an estimated 95.1% of Nigerian internet users. Because WhatsApp is end to end encrypted, misleading content shared in private chats and groups is far harder to flag or take down compared to content on open platforms, allowing false claims to circulate before fact checkers can respond.
The survey also found that roughly 12% of respondents do not verify political information before sharing it, even though 53.3% said they cross check claims against other sources and 20.9% search online to confirm them. SB Morgen noted that the 12% figure could still represent millions of voters who end up spreading AI generated misinformation once campaigns intensify.
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One of the more striking findings was what the report called the Southeast Paradox. The Southeast recorded the highest reliance on social media for political news at 82.5% and the highest non verification rate at 42.7%, yet it showed the lowest level of concern about AI misinformation nationwide, at just 38.9%. The report warned that this combination creates an almost direct pipeline between AI generated content and mass belief in that region.
On the institutional side, the report argued that Nigeria’s electoral system is still not fully ready for an AI driven election cycle. The Independent National Electoral Commission set up an internal artificial intelligence unit in May 2025 to study how the technology could improve the voting process, but with the election about six months away, that unit has yet to roll out any major initiatives.
The report also flagged a language gap in Nigeria’s fact checking infrastructure. As AI tools become better at generating convincing content in Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Pidgin English, and other local languages, most fact checking work in the country still happens in English, leaving a large share of the political conversation largely unmonitored.
Groups such as Dubawa and the Nigeria Fact Checkers’ Coalition are already working to counter misinformation, but the report said their efforts will need to expand significantly and adopt AI detection tools across more regions and languages before the 2027 elections arrive, if Nigeria hopes to close the gap between public concern and institutional readiness.
