May 07, 2019

Exclusive: Did Putin’s ‘Chef’ attempt to interfere in South African election?

MMA in the media
By Baatile Mohale 69 Comments

7 May 2019, Daily Maverick, Ferial Haffajee with the Dossier Centre

William Bird of Media Monitoring Africa, which set up a partnership with the Independent Electoral Commission to monitor disinformation, says:8

“There was not much of a co-ordinated effort. The ANC was trying something, but it was not effective in that you don’t see evidence of a national narrative being steered (by propaganda or disinformation).”

Bird says their monitoring revealed the ANC had started accounts (called sock puppet accounts) to retweet its messages, but that these had not gained traction. He said that the DA had complained that the ANC was using social media to spread the Alexandra #TotalShutdown campaign, but DA spokesman Mabine Seabe told Daily Maverick they did not detect a foreign hand behind this.

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