Cape Town — Police have warned South Africans against posting ill-informed and misleading information across social media amidst the election votes being tallied.
South Africans took to the polls on Wednesday 29 May and police have remained on high alert over the type of content posted on social media. It is reported that police are investigating 39 cases in contravention of the electoral act, EWN reported.
This includes cases of destruction and removing of voting ballots, as well as one person in the Western Cape who allegedly vogted twice. Deputy National Police Commissioner, Tebello Mosikili, said law enforcement would act against posts that incite violence or unrest.
“We want to discourage the misinformation because it causes unnecessary panic, it causes unnecessary conflict, [and] it labels people otherwise, to the point that we really cannot be working if we are a responsible citizen doing things that you know will flare up violence and intolerance amongst each other.” Mosikili said.
SA Government also posted a video on X encouraging people to stop spreading the wrong information and to report it imeediately.
“You can help to stop the spread of fake news and disinformation. If you see content online that you believe to be false or misleading, you can report it immeidately to the hosting social media platform,” it said.
Stop the spread of #FakeNews! pic.twitter.com/DK6Rj99Ib1
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) May 30, 2024
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
