After the storm: Staying safe online in a post-election Tanzania
What you need to know:
In moments of political tension, the digital atmosphere thickens. Posts spread faster, emotions flare quicker, and the stakes feel higher than ever. During such periods, the atmosphere is usually tense, and emotions are all over the place.
AI-doctored content plays directly into this volatility. People often experience heightened anxiety, anger, or distrust because the content feels personally relevant yet deeply deceptive.
Political urgency mixes with technological believability, leaving individuals vulnerable to reacting before thinking.
By Joanne Mwita
In Tanzania’s fast-moving digital landscape, the rise of AI-generated content is no longer just a technical concern; it’s becoming a psychological one. As the country navigates political conversations, online activism, and a growing appetite for instant information, the boundary between truth and fabrication has never been thinner.
And with the Personal Data Protection Act now setting stricter rules for how data can be collected, stored, and used, the conversation is turning sharply toward protection not just of privacy, but of the mind.
In moments of political tension, the digital atmosphere thickens. Posts spread faster, emotions flare quicker, and the stakes feel higher than ever. Psychologist Dr Sifa Hyera explains that during such periods, “the atmosphere is usually tense, and emotions are all over the place.” AI-doctored content plays directly into this volatility. People often experience heightened anxiety, anger, or distrust because the content feels personally relevant yet deeply deceptive. Political urgency mixes with technological believability, leaving individuals vulnerable to reacting before thinking.
But the deeper danger sits in repeated exposure. Dr Hyera warns that constantly seeing deepfakes or manipulated images “can make the line between what’s real and what’s fabricated very blurry.” Over time, this leads to a phenomenon she calls 'reality scepticism', where people begin doubting not just the media, but their own senses. When the masses lose certainty in what is real, authentic information becomes harder to trust, and misinformation.
This erosion of trust is precisely what Tanzania’s Personal Data Protection Act attempts to protect against, ensuring that digital content — especially content involving personal data — is handled responsibly. But laws can only do so much when the psychological impact is already underway.
Nowhere is this emotional volatility more evident than in the rise of digital mob mentality. Social media has created the perfect storm: speed, anonymity, and emotional contagion. Dr Hyera explains that “digital mobs often form through rapid, emotionally charged sharing,” and with anonymity, individuals “can feel almost invincible.”
This false sense of protection leads people to share things they normally wouldn’t, act in ways they typically avoid, and throw caution aside. The result is a collective disinhibition that can turn a single fake video into a national crisis.
And once misinformation takes root, the chain reaction is frighteningly predictable. As Dr Hyera describes it, misinformation follows a dangerous psychological progression:
A fake threat can spark real panic. A manipulated image can trigger actual violence. A fabricated narrative can fracture communities.
Living in a digital world where reality can be rewritten at any moment carries long-term consequences. The psychological weight is heavy: chronic stress, cognitive dissonance, paranoia, helplessness, and eroded trust — both in institutions and in each other. Dr Hyera notes that this can even begin to damage people’s ability to form meaningful relationships, a human necessity that becomes harder to fulfil when trust is constantly under attack.
So, what can be done?
On an individual level, Dr Hyera suggests something simple yet transformative: pause.
Pause before sharing.
Pause before reacting.
Pause long enough to verify, seek diverse perspectives, and assess emotional triggers.
But on a national scale, the response must be more structured. Policymakers, mental-health advocates, and digital platforms all carry responsibility. Dr Hyera proposes media-literacy programmes, early-detection tools for misinformation, clearer guidelines for platforms, research funding around psychological resilience, and accessible mental-health support during crises — especially in periods when political tensions ignite digital fires.
The intersection of AI, politics, and psychology is now one of Tanzania’s most urgent conversations. In an era where a single piece of doctored content can distort perception, fuel conflict, or shake a nation’s emotional stability, the question becomes:
How do we safeguard not just our data but our minds?
As Tanzania steps deeper into the age of AI, one truth remains clear — technology may evolve faster than regulation, but understanding its psychological impact might be the most powerful tool we have to protect the public.
