Social Media Vigilantism Is Alive and Trending in South Africa: SouthAfrica
. 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.
Social media platforms amplify narratives through algorithms which, while increasing 'traffic' for advertising sales, tap into interests and biases and develop communities of likeminded people. These narratives are amplified online and artificially propelled through cyberspace - then played out on the streets.Data scientist Kyle Findlay#PutSouthAfricansFirst has echoes of the Make America Great Again movement.
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're doing it.
investigations team found that potentially inflammatory utterings 'proved useful to politicians who share them, enabling them to keep their own content within the bounds of plausible deniability, while still including dog whistles back to the more toxic content.'The team has sought to identify the key players pulling the #PutSouthAfricansFirst strings.
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