October 24, 2021

South Africa: Disinformation in a Time of Covid-19 – a Historic Partnership Ahead of the Municipal Elections

MMA in the media
By Baatile Mohale 78 Comments

24 October 2021, Allafrica, William Bird and Nomshado Lubisi

The Independent Electoral Commission and Media Monitoring Africa have joined hands with major social media platforms to fight the spread of disinformation in the 1 November municipal elections.

Week 35: The significance of partnerships

Last week the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) released a press statement that focused on the announcement of a historic coming together of the IEC, civil society and the major social media platforms. What makes it so important and why should you care? This week we unpack a South African and African first.

With a tendency for fighting and conflict to be the subject of most headlines, it’s easy to forget the value of celebrating entities working together.

“The Electoral Commission and Media Monitoring Africa (MMA) have joined hands with major social media platforms to fight the spread of disinformation, in the run-up to, during and beyond the November 1, 2021 municipal elections.

“The Commission and MMA, who in 2019 launched a joint action to deal with disinformation, have today — 19 October 2021 — reached an agreement with Google, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok to work in support of our efforts to end the scourge of disinformation.”

You may wonder what the big deal is. There are…

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