Fake it! Durban promo campaign and the false social media profiles

For more:

• IOL: Durban promo campaign 'fake'... according to the IOL report, "Durban's reputation has been tainted in an international online climate change competition". This was after a blogger discovered that fake social media profiles have been created to boost the city's chances of winning, and the agency employed by the eThekwini municipality to carry out the campaign (at a cost of R500,000 for 10 days) is, according to the IOL report, "accused of being behind the alleged manipulation."
  

  The IOL report goes on to say that last night, "Barbara Evaeus, from the WWF, said what was happening went against the whole idea of positive engagement, which was what the competition was about. She said the WWF was aware of the fraudulent profiles and was working on disqualifying votes they generated."

  Yesterday listeners to Cape Town's Cape Talk 567 radio station were encouraged to vote "as Durban is ahead of us"; one cynic was heard to remark, "Well now we know why."

  Images extracted from the eThekwini Municipality website