DFRLab and the 2021 Municipal Elections

In preparation for the 2021 Local Government Elections, the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) will be teaming up with the South African National Editors Forum, Media Monitoring Africa, the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change and AfricaCheck to find ways to shore up election integrity.

The global COVID19 pandemic has highlighted critical weaknesses in the way we consume information. Democracies around the world face unique challenges, from the storming of the US capitol to internet and social media shutdowns in Uganda and Nigeria, and South Africa will be now different.

Workshops and training sessions will commence well in advance of the elections, providing a network of journalists and misinformation “spotters” with the tools and skills to identify, analyse and critically engage with mis- and disinformation related to the elections.

Shortly before and during the elections, the DFRLab will begin monitoring the information ecosystem to identify the main spreaders of false information related to the elections, keeping a keen eye out for indications of any coordinated activity undermining.”