ANALYSIS: Social media vigilantism is alive, trending in South Africa - Premium Times Nigeria

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ANALYSIS: Social media vigilantism is alive, trending in South Africa

. This is when social media is used to organise, shame, hound or dox a target deemed by the online community to have transgressed established norms. The ISS examined hashtags like #PutSouthAfricansFirst, which propel overtly xenophobic content online.

Variously described as an ‘offshoot’ of the #PutSouthAfricansFirst movement, Operation Dudula uses the same #PutSouthAfricansFirst hashtag on social media to organise protests. ISS research in 2020 revealed that through powerful algorithms, experimental authors such as @uLeratoPillay could potentially reach nearly 50 million Twitter users and pump out xenophobic content using that same hashtag. Those propelling the message may not even realise they are doing it.

And the ability to deny on social media is a dangerous weapon. While the self-proclaimed Operation Dudula leader who uses @nhlanhlalux to reach his 138 000 followers has a face and a name, more anonymous actors are unaccountable, using similar narratives and tactics. As South Africa remembers last year’s violence, lawmakers and police shouldn’t underestimate social media’s potentially lethal power – in mobilising vigilante groups and coordinating efforts online. The government and civil society should use social media for fact-based communication campaigns that dismantle the myths underlying xenophobic sentiment.

 

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