17 May 2019, News 24, Azarrah Karrim
Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) in partnership with the IEC introduced an initiative called The Real411 to help fight the disinformation war.
Nomshado Lubisi, MMA communications manager, says while there was a spread of disinformation across the internet during this period, it did not derail the process.
“From an overview of the period, it didn’t seem to be a deliberate strategy of disinformation campaigning – although we are still busy with some research into this.”
“There is definitely a threat of future disinformation campaigns in election periods. I think that we aren’t seeing a decline, rather an increase in the use of social media in election campaigning, and with that, an increase in potential disinformation online. I think we have to be proactive about the threats of disinformation, and that’s why a platform such as The Real411 is such an important initiative,” Lubisi said.
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