Many social media accounts owned by young Africans have touted Ibrahim Traore, Burkina Faso’s military leader, as the messianic figure poised to fix all his country’s problems and, by extension, the continent’s. Traore rose to power in a September 2022 coup, ousting interim leader Paul-Henri Damiba, whom he had helped install just eight months earlier after overthrowing civilian President Roch Kabore.

Since 2024, there has been a surge in online content highlighting Traore’s exploits. Across various social media platforms, there is a high volume of pro-Traore content, while several accounts — often with significant followings — regularly publish false and misleading posts about policies and infrastructural projects that Traore did not initiate or execute. Some accounts go as far as publishing AI-generated videos to support their claims.

With the aid of Meltwater, a platform that monitors social media posts, alongside other in-platform searches, CableCheck analysed several posts published on X, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram to ascertain the patterns and actors involved.

THE HOAX HOUSING SCHEME

One of the most viral social media posts on Traore is the narrative that he constructed several high-rise buildings to bridge the housing deficit in Burkina Faso. The claim is predominantly disseminated by pro-Traore accounts.

CableCheck observed that one of the major accounts spreading the video is a Facebook page dubbed “Inspirational Ark Africa”. The page, which has approximately 200,000 followers, is managed by MC Ebua, a Nigerian social media influencer.

In March 2025, the page published a reelcaptioned: “Burkina Faso is being transformed, intense construction going on. Ibrahim Treore is great.” The reel showed a video of ongoing construction on the high-rise buildings while an accompanying voiceover praised Traore’s feats.

A screenshot of Inspirational Ark Africa’s Facebook reel

A similar version of the video was posted on TikTok by @mosemoses36, an account with over 200,000 followers. On TikTok, the video was captioned: “The president of Burkina Faso has introduced launched (sic) free housing projects for capital city residents.” The video was also posted here.

To verify whether the video was shot in Burkina Faso, CableCheck analysed the key frames with a reverse image search.

The search led to the discovery of a TikTok account – @asi_rem – which has several videos of high-rise buildings with the same features as those in the viral pro-Traore posts. The TikTok account posted the video clips with several hashtags, such as “AADL” and “Algeria”. Some videos had the caption “Tizi Ouzou”, which is a city in Algeria.

A picture downloaded from the AADL Facebook page

CableCheck subjected the key phrase “aadl in Algeria” to further searches on Google. The results showed that AADL is the acronym for Agence Nationale de l’Amélioration et du Développement du Logement, which, in English Language, means the National Agency for Housing Improvement and Development. AADL is a state-controlled agency in Algeria that offers affordable housing units to low-income residents.

Checks on the AADL website indicated a Facebook page controlled by the agency. A search of the photo section of the Facebook page showed several high-rise buildings with similar architectural designs and colours to those in the viral pro-Traore videos.

A screenshot showing the media section of @as1_rem TikTok handle

A YouTube video from Algeria Press Service, the country’s news agency, also showed a snippet of the ongoing construction of the high-rise buildings.

A screenshot from the Algeria Press Service YouTube page

A video posted by the TikTok account @asi_rem on February 4, 2025, features the same typographical elements and equipment seen in the housing video that pro-Traore social media accounts began circulating in March 2024.

The evidence gathered showed that the video of the building was taken in Tizi Ouzou, a city in Algeria, and “not Burkina Faso as claimed.

‘CANCELLATION OF TAXES IN BURKINA FASO’

Another viral claim about the Traore-led junta is the purported suspension of taxes in Burkina Faso. The claim suggests that Traore has made Burkina Faso Africa’s first tax-free country. CableCheck’s findings revealed that the claim was made via an AI-generated video, which was first published on social media by a TikTok account, @panafrica069, on April 1, 2025. The TikTok account has over 110,000 followers.

The video, captioned “Ibrahim Traore declares Burkina Faso a tax-free nation,” has been shared more than 31,000 times, garnering over 149,000 likes and 11,000 comments.

In the video, an AI-generated newscaster reads an imaginary script while a voiceover plays in the background. The voiceover claims that Elon Musk, the CEO of the microblogging platform X, is considering relocating his businesses to Burkina Faso due to the country’s tax policy. The voiceover also said that Western nations are considering sanctions against Burkina Faso to stop the alleged zero-tax policy.

In the comment section, TikTok users from Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe praised Traore, with some expressing optimism that he would become the “President of United Africa”.

The AI-generated video was also posted on other social media platforms. On April 21, an X user @MutumaoNkanata with over 17,000 followers posted the video with the caption: “Caption Ibrahim Traore Declares Burkina Faso a Tax-free Nation”. The post generated over 3,003 reports, 112 quotes, and 8,374 likes. The X account is one of the pages that habitually posts factually inaccurate information about Traore.

A screenshot of the TikTok video

Other versions of the claim have been archived here, here, and here.

Verifying the claim, CableCheck used Google Lens to conduct a reverse image search on the keyframes of the AI-generated video and found a news article on Africa24TV’s website. The article included a video of Traore speaking at the 2024 Academic Excellence Day in Burkina Faso, which took place on August 23, 2024.

The video clip of Traore’s speech at the Academic Excellence Day event was manipulated to depict that the military leader declared a tax-free regime in the West African country. The military leader did not talk about taxes during the Academic Excellence Day event.

A screenshot of Traore at the Academic Excellence Day event

CableCheck also perused Burkina Faso’s media platforms and the government’s official social media accounts, and there was nothing to indicate that Traore declared a tax-free policy for businesses and individuals in the country.

The tax-free claim also runs contrary to the 2025 Finance Act approval by Burkina Faso’s transitional parliament in December 2024. The legislation includes several tax policies and amendments. One of the new provisions states that from January 2025, those who sell goods and provide services on e-commerce platforms will pay taxes.

SERBIAN PROTEST VIDEO USED TO DEPICT SOLIDARITY RALLY FOR TRAORE

A solidarity rally was organised for the Burkina Faso military leader on April 30, 2025, in Ouagadougou, the capital of the West African country. An image from the rally was also posted by Traore via his official X handle.

Twenty-four hours after the rally, videos of a large crowd purportedly expressing solidarity with Traore surfaced on social media.

An X user posted one of the videos and captioned it: “Greetings Africans 🙏 The world is behind Ibrahim Traore.” The video shows a large crowd moving across a particular location while holding flags. With over 131,000 followers, the X user frequently posts about Traore’s activities.

A screenshot of the post

Another X user — @Yamiaka Jones — posted the same video with the caption: “Not even in a history of humans the world rallied behind one person like this……long live Ibrahim Traore.”

The same video was posted on TikTok by @mypaddy.tv — with the caption: “Africans are protesting, demanding that the USA and France stop interfering in Burkina Faso and leave Africa to determine its future.”

A closer look at the video of the purported solidarity rally showed that some people were holding flags coloured red, blue, and white. CableCheck analysed the video’s keyframes with Google Lens — and the results showed that it has been online since March 15, 2025. Social media users who had initially posted the videoidentified the clip as the protest in Belgrade, Serbia’s capital.

Thousands of protesters had converged for an anti-corruption protest against Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic. Credible media platforms widely reported the protest, which was triggered by the death of 15 people in a railway station roof collapse in the city of Novi Sad in November 2024.

One of the landmarks in the video is Saint Mark Orthodox Church, located at Tašmajdan Park in Belgrade. The church — which was occupied by the protesters — is close to the Serbian parliament.

OTHER CLAIMS

Multiple pro-Traore social media accounts have also published AI-generated videos to disseminate claims that the United States government is planning to arrest Traore over allegations that the military leader is “using Burkina Faso’s gold to protect his military regime”.

A Nigerian TikTok user — @cc_ehijames_offic — was one of those who amplified the AI-generated video.

Another AI-generated video shared by pro-Traore social media accounts claims, without evidence, that Traore travelled to Nigeria at President Bola Tinubu’s invitation.

The video further alleges that he was trapped in Aso Rock, the country’s seat of power, on instructions from the French government.

So far, the claim has not been substantiated by any publicly available evidence.

CAN DISINFORMATION/PROPAGANDA INFLUENCE PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF TRAORE?

The widespread use of online content about Traore, much of it misleading, outright false, or exaggerated, has contributed to a largely favourable perception of the military leader among many African youths, particularly across social media platforms.

Online content about Traore is increasingly transcending Burkina Faso’s shores, with many youths from different parts of the continent praising Traore on social media.

Some influencers in Nigeria have also posted videos and photos in support of Traore, many of which are exaggerated or bereft of evidence.

On April 25, a Nigerian skit maker, Doctall Kingsley, posted a video expressing solidarity for Traore on his TikTok handle, which has over 4.1 million followers. The skit maker claimed, without evidence, that Traore is turning Burkina Faso into “paradise”. The skit maker also claimed that in the next six months, African countries like Nigeria and Kenya will go to Burkina Faso to take loans.

Comments like Kingsley’s are rife on social media, and many African youths are expressing a yearning for their democratic leaders to emulate Traore—a narrative driving pro-military regime sentiments across the continent.

‘RISING INFLUENCE OF RUSSIAN TROLL FACTORY IN SAHEL REGION’

Speaking on the proliferation of fake social media content praising Traore, Confidence Isaiah-MacHarry, a geopolitical analyst at SB Morgen (SBM) Intelligence, an Africa-focused consulting firm, said the most important immediate cause of the phenomenon is driven by the activities of the “Russian troll factory” in the Sahel region.

Isaiah-MacHarry said the troll factory is pushing narratives to influence public opinion, not primarily to improve Russia’s image, but to shape how people perceive the West.

“To be fair to the Russians, they are not the first set of people doing this, even though their method seems strange from the others. The West has also been involved in influence campaigns for quite a number of years,” the geopolitical analyst.

He said the narratives surrounding Traore drive favourable views of military rule among many young people in West Africa, including those in Nigeria.

The geopolitical analyst added that young people in Nigeria are beginning to desire military rule due to the failure of successive civilian administrations to tackle the country’s problems despite their alliances with the West.

“On what it means for Nigeria’s democracy, I don’t think it looks good. Many young Nigerians who support what Traore is allegedly doing in Burkina Faso will welcome a coup if it happens,” he said.