Can fake news swing South Africa’s local elections? | DW News
As South Africans prepare to vote in local elections, misinformation is spreading rapidly online. False claims that asylum seekers will be allowed to vote, AI-generated videos, and coordinated social media campaigns have intensified tensions around immigration and electoral politics.
DW’s Dianne Hawker-Kalubi investigates how online disinformation is influencing public debate, fueling anti-immigrant sentiment, and affecting candidates on the campaign trail. Experts warn that coordinated networks are exploiting real concerns to spread false narratives ahead of election day.
Chapters:
00:00 – Disinformation surge ahead of local elections
01:13 – False claims on asylum seekers and voting
02:14 – Deepfakes and targeted online attacks on candidates
04:13 – How coordinated online networks drive populist outrage
05:41 – Phumzile Van Damme on ward-level microtargeting
07:18 – Why disinformation spreads so fast and fuels real-world harm
09:34 – Foreign interference and the geopolitics behind bot campaigns
11:08 – Social media platforms and the need for legislative accountability
#SouthAfrica #Elections #FakeNews #dwnews
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