Without access to social media data, ensuring voters have verifiable information rather than manipulated content is difficult.

Nationalist content and mudslinging have become part of the grammar of elections globally. The estimated 26 million South Africans using social media in the lead-up to the 29 May national vote will inevitably be exposed to this.

In such a highly contested election, information integrity is essential to ensure democratic principles prevail and votes are based on verifiable facts and opinions shaped by human minds -- not machines or manipulated content.

Researchers monitoring disinformation will focus on two critical areas in the South African online landscape. First, generative artificial intelligence (AI) or synthetic media used to create deepfakes as part of disinformation campaigns. Second, techniques that create echo chambers by tricking the algorithm and limiting the feed of information we receive.

Institute for Security Studies (ISS) researchers are already observing coordinated techniques in South Africa that are similar to those used in other election settings. They include 'follow trains' ('I will follow you if you follow me'-type activity to build engagement) and 'hashjacking'. Hashjacking is when popular hashtags are hijacked -- repurposed to push a particular agenda. Often, the communities that follow that hashtag are unaware of such manipulation.

Kenya's 2022 election witnessed many of these techniques as part...