MARRAKESH – Latifa Akchelbach, Director-General of the Moroccan High Authority for Audiovisual Communications (HACA), has warned that artificial intelligence has become a major factor in amplifying disinformation in the media and undermining public trust in the news.
Speaking on Wednesday in Rabat at a conference on “Fighting Fake News: Intersecting Approaches and Visions” organized by the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, Acherbach stressed the urgent need for digital platforms to adopt responsible policies.
She said fake news is no longer a temporary aberration, but a structural danger that threatens people's fundamental right to a reliable, diverse and quality media system.
“The increasing use of artificial intelligence in society and within newsrooms is a key factor in amplifying media misinformation and undermining trust in the news,” Akerbach said. This especially occurs in the absence of appropriate legal controls and insufficient awareness of the risks posed by this wonderful but potentially fallible technology.
The HACA President noted that the rapid development of AI technology, as well as the lack of legal frameworks and binding global governance principles, have increased the fragility of media systems and society's susceptibility to media disruption.
Digital transformation is reshaping news consumption
According to the National Survey on Household and Personal Information and Communication Technology Indicators 2024 conducted by the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ANRT), the majority of the population now lives in a permanent digital ecosystem.
Data revealed that 66.3% of Moroccans rely on television as a news source, while 26% get their news from social media platforms. Online journalism follows with 4.7%, followed by print and radio with about 1% each.
Acherbach cited the Reuters Institute's 2025 Digital News Report, which covers 48 countries, including Morocco, and showed that around 78% of Moroccan internet users access news updates through digital platforms. YouTube and Facebook emerged as the most used networks to access national and international news, accounting for 49% and 47% respectively.
“These figures reflect a global trend characterized by an increased reliance on social media networks and video platforms to access news, which is a prominent factor exacerbating the spread of media disinformation,” she said.
Declining role of professional journalism
The President of the Authority warned that the reduction of the intermediation of professional journalism in news access will deprive the public of the basic editorial guarantees that distinguish professional journalism, in particular fact-checking, prioritizing news according to its importance and placing news in its proper context.
She explained that this decline has increased the vulnerability of the population to influence strategy, including foreign strategy. Digital platforms currently exercise influential editorial power within public media spaces through algorithmic mechanisms based on commercial logics.
“This situation is unacceptable from the point of view of fundamental human rights, because information is a public utility and its treatment should primarily correspond to the public interest of society and the principles of responsibility, transparency and pluralism,” Ackerbach argued.
The revolution in media use and consumption has deeply contributed to exacerbating media disinformation, she added. The center of gravity in the communication space has shifted from professional media subject to regulation and self-organization to digital systems dominated by private technology platforms with purely commercial objectives.
Morocco faces sophisticated disinformation campaign
The country is facing a rapid and profound transformation in media disinformation practices, characterized by an increasing diversity of subject areas, content sources, methods and tools used, and intended objectives, whether declared or hidden.
Akharbach cited multiple examples, including false notifications and conspiracy theories spread during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, fake ballots shared on social media during the 2021 elections, the repeated publication of false official statements about public affairs, and a series of false news and misleading texts related to the Al-Hawz earthquake.
She specifically mentioned the media war in which Morocco's Western Sahara conflict is being used as a tool to pressure and influence public opinion both domestically and internationally.
“The range of methods and tools used appears to be extremely wide-ranging, from fake statistics, distorted geographic maps, and locations incorrectly attributed to countries and international organizations, to images taken out of context, fabricated video clips, and narratives based on sensationalism and emotional mobilization,” she said.
These multilingual stories are digitally amplified through automated or anonymous accounts on the internet, she continued.
Building social resilience
Sustaining an effective response to media disinformation requires a shared responsibility approach and coordinated work within the framework of actual public policy. This requires anticipating and managing media risks that threaten national cohesion and the proper functioning of democratic spaces.
Mr. Akerbach advocated strengthening the rights system and building inclusive “society resilience” by providing a legal environment that guarantees media rights while maintaining professionalism. She called for an appropriate regulatory framework to limit the chaos of disinformation without restricting freedoms.
This approach requires citizens to act as key players alongside media education teachers and trainers, sharing responsibility for enabling them to filter and analyze news as a sustainable tool to counter disinformation.
The authorities support regulations, based on respect for rights and freedoms rather than restricting freedoms, that increase media literacy, improve the use of digital spaces and enable societies and citizens to benefit from positive opportunities while protecting them from risks.
“The goal is not to undermine the right to expression, but to provide a public aware and critical media environment where professionalism and human rights prevail,” she declared.
He also encouraged digital actors to adopt responsible policies as a matter of urgency and necessity, pointing out that the increasing role of platforms in accessing news has a direct impact on the quality of public debate and the integrity of political life, especially during election periods when platforms have direct access to voters.
Mr. Acherbach concluded that Morocco does not seek regulation of the technology itself, but of its use, noting that while artificial intelligence offers great opportunities for renewal and innovation, it must be accompanied by legal regulation to ensure that its implementation serves the public interest and protects fundamental rights.
Also read: Minister Ben Said calls for united efforts to fight fake news in Morocco
