UNESCO and BAKE Partner to Train Bloggers, Influencers in New Fight Against Fake News

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has partnered with the Bloggers Association of Kenya (BAKE) in a new initiative aimed at strengthening the role of digital content creators in promoting credible information and responsible online engagement.

The collaboration, implemented under UNESCO’s Social Media 4 Peace (SM4P) project, seeks to equip bloggers, influencers and podcasters with the skills needed to become “trusted voices” in an increasingly complex digital space. The move comes at a time when the line between traditional journalism and digital content creation continues to narrow, with many Kenyans now relying on social media as a primary source of news and information.

However, the growing influence of digital platforms has also been accompanied by rising concerns over disinformation, hate speech and the spread of harmful AI-generated content, challenges that stakeholders say threaten social cohesion and public trust.

To address this, UNESCO will support BAKE in conducting a two-day intensive training workshop scheduled for March 25–26, 2026. The training will target content creators who were recognised during the 2025 BAKE Awards, equipping them with practical tools to navigate the evolving information landscape.

Speaking ahead of the training, UNESCO Programme Coordinator John Okande emphasised the urgency of building digital responsibility among content creators.

“In a fragmented and often polarised digital ecosystem, Media and Information Literacy is no longer a luxury. It is a survival skill for the future of our democracy,” he said. “By equipping Kenya’s digital influencers with journalistic ethics and platform governance tools, we are building a new generation of trusted voices who prioritise information integrity as much as they do their creative reach.”

The training is adapted from a global UNESCO and Knight Center course titled “Digital Content Creators and Journalists: How to be a Trusted Voice Online.” It will focus on key areas including information verification, ethical content creation, and understanding platform governance.

Participants will be trained on how to detect and counter deepfakes and misinformation, balance creative freedom with accuracy and accountability and better understand content moderation frameworks, including the role of the National Coalition on Freedom of Expression and Content Moderation (FeCoMo) in Kenya.

BAKE Chairman Kennedy Kachwanya underscored the importance of ethical standards within the creator ecosystem, noting that credibility is key to sustaining public trust.

“A strong, ethical creator community is the only firewall against the erosion of public trust. This partnership with UNESCO ensures that our creators don’t just win awards for their creativity, but for their commitment to a safer, more truthful internet for all Kenyans,” he said.

The initiative is expected to empower content creators to take greater responsibility in shaping public discourse, promote constructive narratives and safeguard freedom of expression while maintaining high standards of accuracy and integrity online.