New Africa Channel (NAC)
The New Africa Channel (NAC) is a YouTube channel focused on Africa-related news. Lacking a website or formal organizational structure, it appears to rely on an individual or freelancers to produce and aggregate its content. NAC has been accused by Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) at the Atlantic Council of promoting pro-Russian government and anti-Western content. 1 2
Contents
Background
The New Africa Channel (NAC) is a YouTube channel (not to be confused with the Africa Channel) with social media presence. It had 549,000 subscribers as of June 5, 2026, and made the claim on Instagram that it is “Africa’s number one video channel for trends, facts, development, business, and more.” 1
NAC has no public website nor are its producers or management made public. It appears to be operated by an individual or team of freelancers that produce and aggregate its content focused on Africa. It was launched on April 19, 2007, and operates as an independent, audience-driven channel with no affiliation to larger media conglomerates. 3 4 5
NAC made a job posting in 2024 on LinkedIn for a full-time remote news presenter/voice-over artist, but no biographies nor key personnel are listed. 6
Activities
The New Africa Channel uses short to medium-length videos on trending Africa-related topics including infrastructure projects, business ideas, motivational stories, travel and culture features, and criticism of the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and French influence in the Sahel. NAC uses clickbait-style titles, cross-promotion, and thumbnails to promote viral activity. 7 2 8
In a quiz posted on Facebook on August 25, 2025, NFC asked questions like “Which African nation is closest to Europe?”, “Which African country has the oldest democracy?”, and “Which African country was called Rhodesia before independence?” In an April 22, 2025, post, NFC reported on Kenya’s agreement with China for construction of a foreign-affairs complex in Nairobi. 9
The New Africa Channel on January 16, 2023, posted on X a story on then-Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang emphasizing the need for more African representation on the United Nations Security Council and on January 13, 2023, posted about Chinese aid for an Africa Center for Disease Control headquarters. On December 21, 2022, NAC posted a link to a YouTube video titled “High Interest Western Loans Keeping Africa Poor.” 10 11 12
September 11th, 2024, NAC made an Instagram post reporting the unveiling of a Moscow statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela as a sign of friendship between Russia and South Africa. 13
Controversies
In a July 29, 2024, article from Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) at the Atlantic Council, the writer named New Africa Channel one of twenty “suspicious” YouTube channels that act in a “highly similar fashion mimicking pro-Kremlin and anti-Western news content.” Other named channels included the New Tourist, Black Culture Diary, African Insider, Africa Reloaded, Defensive Doctrine, the African Narrative, Black Journals, Africa Infohub, African Affairs, Displace, African Buzz, TR Media, SoutheasternTV, and We Love Africa. NAC and the other named channels showed similar behavior in content that mimicked pro-Kremlin and anti-Western narratives targeted on African audiences. Topics covered by the group of channels included anti-French and anti-Western sentiment, positive or defensive framing of Russian-linked actors like the Wagner Group, and criticism of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when its activities conflicted with Russian interests. 2