Astroturfing the ballot: When online support may not be what it seem

Political campaigns are not only being fought through traditional campaigning, but also on social media, where manufactured engagement and questionable content can shape how voters perceive candidates and parties. This raises important questions for information integrity as South Africa approaches the Local Government Elections in November.

CINIA’s July Elections Observatory report, by Yossabel Chetty, explores emerging examples of misinformation and potentially inauthentic engagement across South Africa’s metros.

In Ekurhuleni, posts supporting Build One South Africa (BOSA) mayoral candidate Nongelo Chiume attracted clusters of comments from accounts with thousands of followers. Many used the same campaign hashtags and described themselves as digital creators.

While these accounts were operating in Meta’s Professional Mode, CINIA found no corresponding paid advertising in Meta’s Ad Library, raising questions about how the apparent support was being generated.

In Tshwane, VF+ mayoral candidate Wesley Jacobs made serious allegations about members of the SANDF being pressured to support the ANC, and claimed elderly residents were threatened with displacement if they did not vote a certain way. Claims like this require careful scrutiny, particularly when circulated through influential online platforms.

The report also examined the use of candidate polls on X by accounts with questionable histories, highlighting how apparently organic public opinion can be difficult to authenticate online.

As election campaigning intensifies, it is important for voters to look beyond the apparent popularity of posts, polls and comments. Remember to check:

• Who is behind the account?
• Is the engagement organic?
• And can the claims being shared be independently verified?

Read the full Local Election Trends Report by Yossabel Chetty. Astroturfing the Ballot: Uncovering Misinformation and Inauthentic Engagement in July’s Metro Campaigns.

FURTHER READING:

• The practice of astroturfing exploits our natural tendency to conform to what the crowd does, writes Jovy Chan (2022) in an article titled ‘Online astroturfing: A problem beyond disinformation’ in Philosophy & Social Criticism.
• Inauthentic information campaigns (astroturfing) threaten to undermine the Internet’s promise to produce more equitable participation in public debates. This is according to Schoch, Keller, Stier and Yang (2022) in article in nature titled Coordination patterns reveal online political astroturfing across the world.