Media Monitoring Africa discusses the spread of disinformation leading up to the 2019 elections
BRYANSTON – The discussion formed part of a series of events for Media Freedom Week.
Media Monitoring Africa, which acts as a media watchdog, hosted an event in Bryanston about the upcoming elections and the impact bots will have.
Around the world, elections and public narratives are being manipulated and swayed by a wide variety of online forces. Leading up to next year’s elections, which are due to be hotly contested in at least three provinces, the Independent Electoral Commission increasingly has to monitor the rapid spread of disinformation on the internet.
Sarah Findlay, from Media Monitoring Africa, explained that disinformation is when false information is deliberately spread. Findlay added that they caution people against using the term ‘fake news’ as this is often used by politicians to discredit credible news items.
Panellists included lawyer Avani Singh, freelance journalist Adam Oxford and Nomsa Masuku, the deputy CEO of the Independent Electoral Commission, while journalist Stephen Grootes moderated the discussion.
Masuku said that following the previous elections in 2016, they had already begun to notice the spread of disinformation and had a team assigned to watching social media to identify accounts dedicated to casting aspersions on the electoral process.
Singh added that the law, in terms of spreading disinformation on social media, is predominantly reactionary and much of the legislature has been a broad brush-stroke response without fully taking freedom of speech into consideration. “I think it’s because elections evoke a particular concern in trying to balance free speech and the need to ensure there is an appropriate exercise of political rights and the risks that come into play with undermining democracy.”
The panellists highlighted the improvement of digital literacy and teaching people the tools to identify disinformation and prevent themselves from spreading disinformation.
Masuku also added that that the spread of disinformation online does result in physical action being taken. “What happens in South Africa particularly is it raises people’s anger and it translates to civil unrest.”
Details: Media Monitoring Africa 011 788 1278.
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