Reporters who investigate politics, corruption, conflict and human rights are facing a growing wave of cyber-enabled attacks, ranging from coordinated online harassment and disinformation campaigns to hacked messaging accounts, compromised news websites and threats that spill into real-world danger.

What makes this new threat especially insidious is its reach. A single post can trigger thousands of hostile messages, a hacked WhatsApp account can collapse months of investigative work, an online smear can isolate a journalist socially, professionally and psychologically – all without a single physical confrontation.

For many journalists, the consequence is not just fear, but disrupted reporting, disrupted livelihoods and disrupted lives.“During this period, I lived like a fugitive,” says Ghanaian journalist, Ibrahim Abode, formerly with Channel One TV, as he describes the harrowing weeks between February and April 2025 when online threats forced him into hiding.

The messages were sent by individuals linked to factions involved in the decades-long Bawku chieftaincy conflict.

“After I reported on killings  in both Bawku and Walewale, I was constantly in hiding,” he recalled in a chat with The Fourth Estate. “Whenever I went out, I wore a nose mask to conceal my identity.”

The violence he reported was brutal and unrelenting. In one incident, a bus traveling from Kumasi to Garu was ambushed by gunmen moments after stopping in front of the ADB Bank in Walewale. The attack, allegedly linked to the Bawku chieftaincy conflict, came just days after a similar assault when three passengers were killed and their bus set ablaze near Wulugu on the Bolgatanga-Tamale highway.

“Their concerns were that I had reported on some of the killings of people, including women and children,” he recalls.

“The online threats and trolling flooded my phone, turning a digital intimidation into a fear that reshaped my daily life.”

Despite the threats, he believes his reports helped police to bring the culprits to book.

“When I reported, the security [officials] went there, arrested some people and then imposed curfew on the area,” Abode says.

But the threats did not stop with him. Some targeted his immediate family, pushing his mother into a state of fear that saw her begging him to abandon journalism altogether.

As pressure mounted, Abode lost his job at Channel 1 TV. He believes his dismissal was prompted by one of his responses to some of the people who were threatening him. His former employers reportedly insisted that his response was “rude”.

“I am completely traumatised psychologically and still struggling to find my feet,” Abode says with a hint of regret.

A silent takeover

While Abode faced threats linked to violent conflict, Thelma Dede-Amedeku, an investigative journalist and fact-checker with The Fourth Estate, encountered a different form of digital attack: the takeover of her WhatsApp account.

The first sign came in the form of strange messages. These were repeated prompts requesting verification codes she had never asked for. Because she had activated two-factor authentication, she ignored them. But on November 7, 2025, everything changed.

“I got a notification that I had been logged out. I couldn’t log back in,” she says.

Suddenly, she lost access to the platform that held conversations with sources.

“I almost cried. I had sensitive information there. And the person who took over could have accessed all of it. That was terrifying,” Dede-Amedeku stated.

Her organisation had already faced a separate incident where their website was compromised, and stories were wiped from the server. But this personal attack struck harder. The takeover happened at a time when her editor was also experiencing a similar block on WhatsApp, prompting suggestions that both incidents were connected to their work — particularly given their roles in fact-checking and accountability journalism.

She reported the issue, eventually receiving support from the Cybersecurity Authority and Meta to retrieve her account after several days of uncertainty.

Digital attacks increasing in frequency and severity 

Philip Kwasi Banini, Co-founder of iWatch Africa, explains that attacks on digital platforms as experienced by Miss Dede-Amedeku and Mr. Adobe are increasing in both frequency and severity across Ghana.

“Reports from the DisinfoEye initiative shows that insults dominate at 70%, followed by sexual harassment at 20%, and defamation/smear campaigns at 10%,” Mr. Banini told the Fourth Estate. “Approximately 60% of abuse targets female journalists, who face additional gendered attacks such as body-shaming and sexualised threats. 80% of cases occur on X (formerly Twitter), 20% on Facebook. Political commentary drives 50% of abuses, followed by cultural issues (30%) and corruption (20%).”

According to Mr. Banini social media platforms have become the primary battleground for these attacks, making them more public, rapid and harder to trace.

Data by iWatch Africa shows that 502 instances of online abuse were documented in just three months of 2025. In 2020, it recorded over 5,000 cases targeting journalists and rights activists.

The data gathered between July and September 2025 revealed that journalists Richard Dela Sky, Berla Mundi, Serwaa Amihere, and Manasseh Azure Awuni were among the most abused, highlighting a significant threat to press freedom and democratic dialogue.

“Women journalists are disproportionately targeted, attacks often follow stories on corruption, politics, or other contentious issues and coordinated online abuse – rather than random trolling – is increasingly common,” the report noted.

In Ghana, gaps within the legal and institutional frameworks further expose journalists, leaving many without meaningful avenues for redress, according to Mr. Banini.

Cybersecurity and legal experts say that the solution is not merely to pass new laws, but to properly test and enforce existing ones.

Desmond Israel, a lawyer and technology governance expert, told The Fourth Estate that Ghana already has several statutes capable of addressing many of these digital abuses, but they remain largely underutilised.

For example, Mr. Israel argued that Ghana must first examine whether current laws, such as the Criminal Offences Act, the Electronic Transactions Act, the Data Protection Act, and the Cybersecurity Act, already contain provisions that can be leveraged to protect journalists before rushing to pass new legislation.

“You can make laws, but if people are not putting those laws to the test, you’ll never feel their impact. The laws we have are broad. They were not written with today’s platform-driven abuse in mind. When journalists report digital threats, the question becomes: does this fit into an existing offence? That ambiguity leaves many unprotected,” he says.

“Our mechanisms for reporting are fragmented. A journalist may report to the police, but the police may not have the training for digital forensics. Cybersecurity bodies may have capacity, but not the mandate to prosecute. That disconnect leaves attackers emboldened.”

The authors, Juliet Etefe and Winifred Lartey, are 2025 Fellows of the Next Generation Investigative Journalism Fellowship – Cohort 7 at the Media Foundation for West Africa.

The post When reporting becomes a risk: The growing digital war on journalists in Ghana appeared first on iWatch Africa.

The selected journalists went through comprehensive training on how newsrooms can address online violence, and use the new TRFilter platform.

The training session was led by experts like Kandil Heba who works with the Thomson Reuters Foundation and shared with participants the practical use of the new TRFilter platform.

Gideon Sarpong, a 2022 Reuters Fellow at Oxford University also provided a guidepost and strategies on how newsrooms can address online violence.

The initiative includes a digital campaign against online abuse and harassment as well as a stakeholder conference to address the challenge.

It is supported by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), through the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF).

Credit: iWatch Africa

(Clonazepam)

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iWatch Africa with support from the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), through the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) is equipping and assisting 20 newsrooms in Ghana and Nigeria to set up online safety units in response to the growing online violence experienced by journalists, particularly female journalists.

This project is a sequel to iWatch Africa’s digital rights initiative launched in 2020 to track, document and analyze threats against journalists, media workers within the digital ecosystem in West Africa.

Eligibility
Applicants are expected to be:
• Ghanaian or Nigerian nationals aged between 18 and 45 years old, and must be prepared to influence change in their newsroom or organization.
• Must be a journalist or work within the media ecosystem.
• People or activists who directly contribute to media development programs in Ghana and Nigeria may apply.
Deadline for applications:  14th July 2022

NOTE: Female journalists are strongly encouraged to apply.

Apply via link here: https://forms.gle/6Dyixd2GQ3EXTRWBA

Send an email to info@iwatchafrica.org if you encounter any difficulties in completing the form.

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Online harassment of journalists in Ghana and Nigeria is a phenomenon that has prompted growing concern in recent years. Journalists who report on contested social and political issues increasingly find themselves the target of abuse through social media and other online means, in some cases including violent threats of death and rape.

Women journalists and right activists face an additional burden in that they are also attacked purely on the basis of their gender.

The initiative which is the second phase of iWatch’s digital rights initiative will assist twenty newsrooms in Ghana and Nigeria develop online safety units to tackle the evolving threat against journalists within the online ecosystem.

Gideon Sarpong, project lead for the initiative and co-founder of iWatch Africa, indicated that in 2020 alone, iWatch Africa “tracked over 5000 instances of online abuse” directed towards journalists and rights activists in Ghana.

“A 2021 UNESCO survey of 714 journalists also revealed that 73% of women journalists have experienced online violence, with chilling psychological effect and self-censorship” he added.

“The initiative will include designing reporting protocols for the participating news organisations and a digital campaign to deal with the real threat facing journalism today, which has the potential to erode press freedom in West Africa if it goes unchecked,” he stated.

Expected to last until the end of the year, the initiative will leverage on work (Guideline to protect journalists online) produced by Gideon Sarpong as a Reuters Fellow at University of Oxford.

The project is supported by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), through the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF).

Interested media representatives can send an email to info@iwatchafrica.org.

Credit: iWatch Africa

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Social media platforms have given journalists many opportunities, facilitating the exchange of views and information, promoting their content, and improving audience engagement. But they have also created new threats to their safety and wellbeing.

Newsrooms must be equipped to face these threats. That is why my work at the Reuters Institute has focused on creating guidelines for newsrooms in West Africa (and beyond) that promote a knowledge-sharing approach for a more resilient response to online abuse.

The roadmap includes five action points:

• Build digital rights literacy
• Establish safety practices
• Conduct risk assessments
• Implement support mechanisms
• Assign roles and tasks

The purpose is not to shield journalists from criticism or promote the criminalisation of online speech, but to deal with a real threat facing journalism today, which has the potential to erode press freedom in West Africa if it goes unchecked. Here is a summary of the roadmap. Here you can download the full paper, which outlines these steps in detail and includes links to training resources.

1. Build digital rights literacy

The first step is to build digital rights literacy in the newsroom. This involves undertaking training to build awareness of what journalists can expect and demand when working online, and what constitutes abuse: trolling, doxxing, cyber-bullying and so on.

Content about digital rights must be accessible in a variety of formats because people learn differently: videos, podcasts, memes, posters in the newsrooms. There should be a continuous engagement process on the topic. Abuse evolves as quickly as technology, so host regular meetings – both formal and informal – to discuss online harassment cases.

2. Establish safety practices

Top managers must make it clear that the organisation takes online violence and abuse very seriously. This is a first step in creating a safety culture in the newsroom and building confidence among the team. Your journalists should be aware that online abuse is not something they should just “put up with” or a “rite of passage”.

Clear reporting lines must also be created so journalists know whom to turn to in the event of abuse. Maintain records of incidents. You cannot effectively respond to what you do not track.

3. Conduct risk assessments

With each new case, the online safety team will need to conduct a risk assessment. This will focus on three key areas: physical risks, psychological risks, and reputational harm.

Here are some key factors to consider in the case of physical threats:

• Overall online environment (frequency of online attacks & level of impunity in the country).
• The credibility of the threat from the individual aggressor in question, and the public nature of journalists’ work. (Are they recognisable?)

In the case of psychological and emotional risk, weigh the intensity of the harassment. Is the content harassing on the grounds of gender, race or sexual orientation? This can be particularly damaging. Also consider the psychological state of journalist being targeted: are they in a place to process the resulting emotional response? Do they need professional support to do so?

In terms of reputational harm, weigh the degree of hostility and potential smears to the journalist’s character. How credible will these attacks be regarded by the public? Are the attacks political in nature?

4. Implement key support mechanisms

These key guidelines outline the provision for journalists of digital security, legal and psychological support, and public shows of support by the newsroom.

An organisation’s support matters: it’s key to journalist wellbeing. But always consider these factors: will it amplify the attacks? Will it further harassment? Will it harm a potential legal case in future?

Depending on the nature and credibility of the threat, and on the trauma caused by the abuse, support may also take the form of granting temporary leave or re-assignment.

5. Define clear roles and responsibilities

Who does what? There should be no ambiguity. Involve top management in this planning. Those responsible for online safety in newsrooms must thoroughly understand the online environment and issues involved and should be a person trusted by all. Consider diversity when making these appointments: will minority groups in your newsroom feel safe approaching this person? Do you need to appoint more than one online safety coordinator?

There is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all set of protocols. This roadmap should be adapted and modified to fit the needs of individual newsrooms. In the long run, these guidelines will require constant reassessment and updating to accommodate rapid changes in technology, social media tools, and the political landscape that informs online attacks.

To read Gideon’s full paper and access resources, download the PDF in this link. 

This paper was first published by Reuters Institute at Oxford University, UK where Gideon Sarpong is a Fellow. Gideon is also a co-founder of iWatch Africa.

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Online harassment of journalists in Ghana is a phenomenon that has prompted growing concern in recent years. Journalists who report on contested social and political issues increasingly find themselves the target of abuse through social media, online comment fora and other online means, in some cases including violent threats of death and rape.

iWatch Africa’s initiative will focus on four main strategies including; establishment of a news desk track online abuse and harassment of journalists, expose and report identified cases to CHRAJ and the police and finally assist government develop relevant online harassment and abuse policies/regulations.

Project Lead for the initiative, Gideon Sarpong explained that, “risks that online harassment pose to the free flow of information and the democratic exchange of ideas demand an urgent response.”

“Thirty one percent of journalists tone down coverage of certain stories after being harassed. We recently witnessed the murder of Ahmed Suale, but prior to that we all saw how he was abused and threatened within the digital ecosystem. A high number of journalists in the last couple of months have also been consistently threatened, intimidated and abused. iWatch Africa will use all available resources to fight against this phenomenon, “ he stated.

The initiative was unveiled at a training workshop for journalists in the middle belt of Ghana last Saturday in Kumasi and it will continue for the foreseeable future.

The human rights abuse and corruption project is supported by US Embassy in Ghana.

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