With the 2026 Local Government Elections on the horizon, the Electoral Commission (IEC) has taken a significant step to protect the integrity of the vote by introducing the Electoral Code of Conduct on Countering Disinformation. This code is aimed squarely at political parties and candidates contesting the election, and it spells out clearly what they can and cannot do when it comes to spreading false or misleading information, whether online or offline. It applies from the moment it took effect all the way through until the results of the election are formally declared. To make this workable, the IEC has partnered with an independent platform called Real411, which is run by Moxii Africa. Real411 has the capacity to receive and independently investigate complaints about disinformation, and it can recommend remediation to the IEC and to digital platforms where harmful content is found. When the IEC receives a report through Real411, it can respond in a few different ways. It might issue a public statement on its own social media channels flagging the content as disinformation, or it might release an official correction to set the record straight. Alternatively, where the code has been breached, the IEC can refer the matter to the Electoral Court, which has the power to consider the case and impose sanctions on those responsible. This is not about policing opinions; it is about ensuring that the election is decided by facts, not by lies.
So, what exactly counts as disinformation? At its core, disinformation is information that is false or misleading, shared by someone who either knows it is not true or has no reasonable basis for believing it is true, and who shares it with the intention of misleading voters or disrupting the election. It is important to distinguish this from misinformation, which is false information shared without that malicious intent, often simply because somebody did not bother to check before hitting send. Either way, the damage can be just as serious: bad information travels fast, and it can influence how people vote, or even whether they vote at all. But not everything is disinformation. Satire, opinion pieces, fair criticism, and robust political debate are all excluded, even if they are harsh or unflattering to a particular party or candidate. The target here is deliberately false content designed to deceive, not legitimate disagreement. In the lead-up to the 2026 elections, some of the most common forms of disinformation have already started to appear. These include false claims about voting dates, times, venues, or who is eligible to vote; fake statements or announcements wrongly attributed to the IEC or its staff; and scams that pretend to be from the IEC, such as bogus job adverts. There are also manipulated or entirely AI-generated images, audio, and video clips used to mislead voters, plus fake accounts and bot networks designed to make a particular view look far more popular than it really is. Doxxing, which means sharing someone’s private information online without consent to cause them harm, is also a serious concern, as are political ads or AI-generated content that are not clearly labelled as such.
With all this in mind, how can you tell the difference between something real and something designed to deceive? Start by asking where the information came from. Always check the source. Is it a credible media outlet? Is it the actual account it claims to be? Look for verified pages and official channels, especially the IEC’s own updates on elections.org.za and its verified social media accounts. Next, pay attention to how the content makes you feel. Misleading content is often engineered to make you angry, scared, or anxious, because those emotions make people share without thinking. If something triggers a strong emotional reaction, that is your cue to slow down. Then ask whether you can find the same information anywhere else. A genuine story about voting dates, venues, or IEC decisions will usually be reported by more than one credible source. If you cannot find it anywhere except the single post you are looking at, be cautious. Also take a close look at any images or videos. Watch for mismatched lighting, unnatural movement, odd-looking hands, or blurred edges, which are common signs of AI-generated or manipulated media. Finally, check whether the content is labelled. Political advertising and AI-generated content must be clearly marked as such under the Disinformation Code. If it is not labelled when it should be, that is worth reporting. When in doubt, pause, check, and if you are still not sure, report rather than share.
You can also do your own fact-checking before anything gets out of hand. The simplest approach is to go straight to the source. For anything related to voting, such as dates, venues, registration, or results, check the official IEC website, the IEC WhatsApp Channel, or its other social media pages under the handle @IECSouthAfrica. Search for the claim in just a few words and see whether reputable news outlets are covering it too. If a vivid photo seems suspicious, use reverse image search to see where it first appeared and whether it has been taken out of context. What is reverse image search, exactly? It means searching the internet using an image instead of text, to find out where else that image has appeared, when it was first published, and in what setting. This is incredibly useful for spotting photos that have been recycled, cropped, or relabelled to mislead people, such as an old photo from a different country or a different event being passed off as something current. To do it, you can go to Google Images, click the camera icon, and upload the photo or paste its URL, and Google will show you other places where the image appears online. You can also use TinEye, which was built specifically for this purpose; upload the image and it will show you the earliest known appearance and all matches, sorted by date. On a phone, you can long-press the image or take a screenshot and use the “Search image” option in Google or Chrome. If the earliest match is from years ago or from a completely different location than the one claimed, that is a strong sign the photo is being used out of context.
If you do come across something you believe is disinformation related to the 2026 Local Government Elections, the right move is to report it to Real411, the independent platform that handles digital election-related complaints. Submitting a complaint is straightforward. Go to the Real411 website or use the Real411 app. You will need to provide your name and contact details; complaints cannot be submitted anonymously, but your identity will be kept confidential in the outcome. You should include a link or screenshot of the content, along with as much detail as you can about where and when you saw it. Once you have submitted, the process unfolds in stages. First, you submit your complaint with supporting evidence. Then, the Digital Complaints Committee reviews it to check whether it falls within their scope. After that, a sub-committee decides on the appropriate action, which may include referral to the IEC, the police, the South African Human Rights Commission, the Press Ombud, or the Electoral Court. You will then be notified of the outcome and guided on how to appeal if relevant. If you disagree with the decision made by the Real411 Digital Complaints Committee, you can approach the Secretariat in writing to lodge an appeal with the Appeals Committee. All you need to do is submit your appeal listing the complaint ID and your reasons, and you can email it to [email protected]. Complaints are handled in all eleven official languages, and outcomes are published once a decision has been reached, so the process is transparent and accountable.
Beyond reporting, there is a great deal you can do to help keep election disinformation from spreading. Most importantly, do not be the person who spreads it. If content makes you angry or afraid, that is the moment to check it, not share it. Cultivate the habit of slowing down before you hit send. If you have already reported something and it has been confirmed as disinformation, share that outcome with the people you originally shared the post with. Correcting the record is just as important as catching the lie in the first place. You might even consider becoming a Real411 Rover Spotter, which means joining a community of digital detectives who help keep South Africa’s online spaces safe by spotting fake news, dodgy posts, hate speech, and disinformation, and helping to fact-check the truth. None of this is meant to limit your right to speak freely. Fair comment, satire, opinion, and robust political debate are all still absolutely allowed, even when they are unflattering to a party or candidate. The Disinformation Code targets deliberate falsehoods, not disagreement. The goal is simply to keep the 2026 Local Government Elections fair, free, and based on truth, so that every South African can cast their vote with confidence, knowing that the information they are seeing is reliable. The system is there to protect you, but it works best when you participate. By staying curious, checking your sources, and reporting what seems wrong, you become part of the solution. That is how a democracy stays strong: not through silence, but through shared responsibility and trust in the process.