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Focus should be on advantages of online platform: MMA

William Bird
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Executive director of Media Monitoring Africa, William Bird, has conceded that the newly-launched online platform for digital disinformation comes with its own challenges but says the focus should be on the advantages.

The Electoral Commission (IEC) launched the platform in Pretoria on Monday as a result of the rise in disinformation especially via digital platforms and the potential negative impact it may have on the integrity of the May 8 elections.

It is developed in partnership with Media Monitoring South Africa and will facilitate the online submission and tracking of complaints relating to disinformation encountered on social media platforms.

“There are things that you can’t do of course. Linked to this particular system of the complaints system is also a desire to drive greater digital literacy skills and awareness of what you should be doing. People need a healthy dose of scepticism in order to deal with information this stage. If you’re getting something on Whatsapp and you can’t be sure where it’s coming from, you need to check it against a credible source of media, if they don’t have it, check against another one. If they don’t have it, chances are that someone is trying to dump you into something that’s simply not accurate and then you can report that if it’s election-related and it’s disinformation,” says Bird.

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