--- title: "Real411 develops new tool to track incitement on social media" description: "There has, understandably, been a significant focus on the threat posed by misinformation and disinformation in the lead-up to SA's national elections on Wednesday." type: "NewsArticle" publisher: "Daily Maverick" site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za" section: "ROAD TO 2024 ELECTIONS OP-ED" author: "William Bird and Thandi Smith" author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/william-bird-thandi-smith/" canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2024-05-27-real411-develops-new-tool-to-track-incitement-on-social-media/" published: "2024-05-27T01:23:53" lang: "en-ZA" word_count: 577 --- # Real411 develops new tool to track incitement on social media > There has, understandably, been a significant focus on the threat posed by misinformation and disinformation in the lead-up to SA's national elections on Wednesday. By William Bird and Thandi Smith · Published 27 May 2024, 03:23 SAST ## Key points - Real411 teams are on high alert, debunking claims from rigged elections to disappearing ink fears, while tackling the serious issue of online incitement with a new AI tool and a diverse team of experts, aiming to combat the spread of harmful content year-round. - Real411 teams combat various election-related disinformation, including false claims about ink pens and rigged elections, aiming to prevent manipulation of voters' choices. - Online harms, particularly targeting women journalists, are interconnected, with disinformation and incitement often fuelling attacks and threats on social media platforms. - Incitement is a criminal offence in South Africa, defined by specific criteria under Cybercrimes and Riotous Assemblies Acts, with Real411 using these guidelines to assess online content. - South African Human Rights Commission highlights the role of social media in amplifying grievances and inciting disruptive actions, prompting Real411 to develop AI tools to detect and monitor incitement online. ## Content The Real411 teams have been kept busy with all manner of content, from claims about the elections being rigged to claims that people need to take their own black ink pens to vote, as the IEC will be using “evaporating ink”, suggesting that after marking the ballot, voters’ Xs will disappear, leaving a blank ballot for bad actors to then mark as they choose. It’s just wrong. One of the key lessons learned from the 2019 national elections is that online harms often reinforce each other. Women journalists are frequently attacked online — harassed and threatened while disinformation about them is peddled. Less focus has been given to the issue of incitement on social media. Incitement is a criminal offence in South Africa, legislated against in a few Acts including the Cybercrimes, and Riotous Assemblies Acts. We have made use of these in forming the criteria for assessment on Real411, where for something to be incitement it had to meet all the criteria. In February, the South African Human Rights Commission released its [report](https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/JULY%20UNREST%20REPORT%20FINAL_29%20JAN%202024.pdf) on the inquiry into the July 2021 unrest. A key finding was that, “through the creation and dissemination of inflammatory content, social media amplified grievances, stoked fear and anger, and mobilised individuals towards disruptive actions”. At the same time, we had been observing trends in how bad actors on social media would know where the lines were on various platforms to not cross them, which would ensure their content remained online and would not be removed or deprioritised. Given the risk that incitement online posed, we wanted to get a sense of whether we could spot it online using AI, and then see if any trends emerged. While some of the platforms, including Google, Meta and TikTok, act against clear instances of calls to violence, we wanted to get a sense of two additional elements. The first was to see how much content was inciting violence, and the second was to look at those instances where the content had elements of incitement but did not meet all the criteria — it stopped just short of calling for violence that would cause public harm. It became clear that there are varying definitions of “incitement”. We found that incitement tended to be spoken of not in its own category but most commonly in relation to hate speech, of which it forms a component. We worked with a diverse group of experts, with legal, media, technology and linguistic expertise. The tool we developed is now live in beta phase and can be seen [here](https://iiiafrica.org/). We are still training the model. In this first iteration, we hope to highlight and raise awareness of online incitement to act as an early warning system and to help identify terms and phrases and possible networks. This project forms part of MMA’s broader work around combating online harms. Although [Real411](http://www.real411.org.za/) has been the official platform to report election-related disinformation during the election period, the platform itself operates year-round, dealing with complaints that fall into four categories: disinformation, harassment, hate speech and incitement to violence. If you come across content on any digital platform that you suspect falls into one of these categories, please report it to [Real411](https://real411.org.za/). **DM** ![Image](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/DM-Disinformation-411-app.jpg) *Download the Real411 App on*[*Google Play Store*](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=za.org.real411.android)*or*[*Apple App*](https://apps.apple.com/za/app/real411/id1536882381)*Store.* *William Bird is the director of Media Monitoring Africa (MMA). Thandi Smith heads the policy and quality programme at MMA, a partner in the 411 platform to counter disinformation.* ![Image](https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/wp-content/uploads/Disinformation-21Feb_1.jpg)