The South African government has played an instrumental role in peddling disinformation on issues of national importance, such as the ongoing energy crisis and other socio-economic issues, via social media and other platforms.
Disinformation, which has been largely boosted by an increase in internet penetration and growing social media use, is defined as false or misleading information deliberately spread, in order to influence public opinion. Coined by government in 2007, the term load-shedding refers to a way to distribute demand for electrical power, across multiple power sources.
However, Renwick believes this is another deceptive strategy used by the government to deflect attention away from its own flaws. Questions sent by ITWeb to Eskom and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy were not responded to by the time of publication. “Africa is a battleground of disinformation campaigns shaped by issues of conflict. In SA, this has lately been attributed to the sheer amount of load-shedding, among other factors.
He noted, over the last three years, the digital presence of private and public entities increased exponentially in scope and opportunity for malicious actors to disseminate disinformation, resulting in reputational damage and financial loss for organisations and entities.