Imagine you’re trying to predict the weather during a monstrous, swirling Category 5 hurricane – that’s pretty much how IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya feels about preparing for the 2026 local elections. He warns that we’re not just forecasting a storm anymore; we’re smack dab in the middle of it. The culprit? The booming rise of generative AI, churning out fake realities, misinformation, and outright lies, making the 2026 elections uniquely challenging. Unlike the national elections we just had, these local contests are intensely personal, often decided by just a handful of votes. This hyper-local focus makes them incredibly vulnerable to whispers and wild rumors that can spread like wildfire on WhatsApp, small community news outlets, and even just by word of mouth, completely under the radar. It’s a daunting prospect, especially when you consider that delegates from various international organizations and European embassies were present, showing just how much global attention South Africa’s electoral integrity is attracting. Moepya made it crystal clear: South Africa isn’t a playground for unchecked algorithms. He stressed that just as other countries are telling tech giants to play fair, so too is South Africa. The IEC is even looking at the European Union’s strong AI Act as a potential blueprint to identify and manage high-risk AI systems that could try to mess with election results. “We need the same level of transparency in our local areas like Ekurhuleni as they demand in Brussels,” he declared, emphasizing that the fight against disinformation starts right at home. He also spotlighted young people as both the most media-savvy and, ironically, the primary targets of these digital deceptions. To media monitoring groups present, he threw down a gauntlet: “Your role in ‘fact-checking the checkers’ has never been more vital.” Ultimately, Moepya expressed confidence in South Africans’ innate “nonsense detector” and reiterated their goal: to ensure every voter makes their choice based on conscience and community needs, not on some AI-generated deepfake crafted in the shadows.
IEC vice-chairperson Janet Love echoed Moepya’s concerns, describing the upcoming elections as “disinformation on steroids” compared to 2024. The sheer logistical complexity of local government elections, which involve an astonishing 4,300 unique ballots compared to about 20 in national polls, makes them a prime target. This complexity itself has often been weaponized by those trying to discredit election legitimacy, falsely claiming voting irregularities. Love anticipates these attacks on the IEC will be a recurring theme. One of her biggest worries is the chilling effect of rumors and disinformation. She spoke of social media videos showing election materials supposedly “stolen” from warehouses, falsely implying stolen votes, or electoral officials being wrongly accused of tampering simply for transporting empty ballot boxes to a voting station before it opens – a standard procedure. These false narratives breed suspicion among good citizens, deterring those we need to step up as temporary election officials. Love recounted a harrowing incident in the last elections where a woman in KwaZulu-Natal was forced out of her home in the dead of night due to such baseless accusations. These anecdotes paint a vivid picture of the personal toll disinformation can take, disrupting lives and undermining trust in the very people who ensure our democratic process functions.
The IEC’s strategy to combat this onslaught is comprehensive and dynamic. While the digital world shifts at an astonishing pace, the IEC’s core upgrades are rooted in solid principles for responsible digital and social media use in African elections, guidelines they themselves championed before the May 2024 elections. These guidelines offer a roadmap for everyone – not just the IEC – to engage responsibly online. Their approach focuses on six key areas. Firstly, they’re embracing “radical transparency,” moving from a defensive stance to openly addressing issues. Technical glitches from 2024, like those with Voter Management Devices (VMDs), have been rigorously tested and fixed independently. They’re also making it easier for citizens to verify their ward boundaries and registration status through free digital portals. This ensures that voters have accurate information at their fingertips, cutting through any potential confusion or deliberate misrepresentation.
Secondly, the IEC is prioritizing social media visibility to “pre-bunk” disinformation, a proactive approach to debunking lies before they even take hold. Love explains that instead of just reacting to false information, they aim to educate voters beforehand about the safeguards in place to protect the integrity of the vote. This means a significant boost in staffing for social media outreach, voter education, platform monitoring, and adapting their engagement strategies. Crucially, they understand that they can’t just talk to political parties; they need to communicate directly with voters. To achieve this, the IEC has been using its e-Recruitment platform to hire for various social media-focused roles, beefing up their online presence and expertise. They’ve also upgraded their WhatsApp presence and are even venturing into podcasts, all part of building a stronger, more direct line of communication with the public.
Thirdly, strengthening collaborations is essential for rapid-response pathways. The IEC is bolstering its partnerships with media and civic organizations, expanding a media monitoring network established in 2019. This collaboration aims to shorten the time it takes to detect and debunk deepfakes and other abuses. For instance, in the 2024 elections, the Real411 platform, a joint initiative with partners like the SA National Editors Forum and Media Monitoring Africa, handled 289 disinformation complaints. They also created a Political Advertising Repository (Padres) to track political ads, adding another layer of oversight. This demonstrates a concerted effort to create a robust ecosystem for identifying and neutralizing disinformation threats swiftly and effectively.
Fourthly, the IEC is scrutinizing the Electoral Code of Conduct, particularly concerning social media. Monitoring and enforcing transparency in online political advertising, especially with “coordinated inauthentic actors” (fake accounts) and paid influencers, is incredibly tricky. The 2024 social media guidelines explicitly state that political campaigns must be transparent and clearly attribute paid content, including influencer endorsements. However, Love cautioned that a recent court ruling places adjudication of Code of Conduct breaches with the Electoral Court, not the IEC. This could lead to lengthy delays, and the Electoral Court might not have the capacity to handle fast-moving, high-impact social media harms, creating a potential loophole for those looking to exploit the system. This highlights the ongoing challenge of adapting established legal frameworks to the rapidly evolving digital landscape.
Fifthly, making tech platforms accountable and transparent is a major focus. Moepya mentioned working with Unesco on a “Social Media for Peace” framework, localizing global principles to ensure platforms like TikTok and even encrypted services like WhatsApp take responsibility for content that incites municipal violence. He noted that the voluntary code signed in 2024 wasn’t sufficient, emphasizing that platforms must provide researchers and the IEC with real-time access to data to detect coordinated inauthentic behavior. While Google, Meta (including WhatsApp), and TikTok (but notably not X) agreed to cooperate with the IEC and partners to report false or violence-inciting content before the 2024 elections, getting measurable data from them remains an uphill battle, like “getting blood out of a stone.” This ongoing struggle for data access underscores the power imbalance between electoral bodies and global tech giants, and the urgent need for stronger regulations.
Finally, the IEC is actively countering fake attacks on its own integrity. In an era where trust in institutions is eroding, the IEC often becomes a convenient target, especially during intense elections. Love observed that in 2024, the commission faced accusations of manipulating results and other attacks. The IEC is proactively addressing this by emphasizing transparency, verification, and auditing, and pre-bunking these attacks. While two cases are still pending, the courts have sided with the commission in approximately 40 instances, demonstrating the baselessness of many of these allegations. This proactive defense is crucial because a strong, trusted electoral commission is the bedrock of a functioning democracy. This multi-pronged approach, integrating technological solutions, strategic communication, and strong partnerships, is the IEC’s bulwark against the rising tide of disinformation that threatens to drown out legitimate voices and undermine the bedrock of South African democracy.