• Research Associate, Sub-Saharan Africa

Tessa Knight

Tessa Knight is a research associate for the Sub-Saharan Africa region at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) based in South Africa. Tessa worked as a news journalist for two South African media companies before joining the DFRLab where she discovered her passion for tracking disinformation and the spread of digital propaganda on the African continent.

As a research associate for DFRLab’s sub-Saharan African research unit, Tessa is committed to increasing awareness around digital propaganda, and working with other researchers, journalists and policy-makers to come up with uniquely African solutions to both local and international disinformation targeting the continent.

October 2023

Russian War Report: Civilian cafe attacked and a fake Ukrainian news site is exposed

by Digital Forensic Research Lab

A suspicious website impersonating a Ukrainian news agency accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian leadership of corruption and misusing aid provided by the United States.
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September 2023

شبكة نسخ ولصق مشبوهة ترد على تغريدات المجموعة الشبه-عسكريّة السودانيّة

by Tessa Knight

شبكة مؤلفة من حسابات تويتر يعتقد بأنها مسروقة تنسخ وتلصق ردوداً إيجابية على منشورات حسابات مرتبطة بقوات الدعم السريع

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August 2023

Sudan’s precarious information environment and the fight for democracy

by Tessa Knight, Lujain Alsedeg

An examination of the time from December 2018, when protests against then-president Omar al-Bashir first broke out, and December 2022, when a framework agreement between civilian and military leaders came into play.
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