Imagine scrolling through TikTok or X (Twitter) on election day and seeing a video purporting to be filmed inside what looks like your local voting station. Someone has recorded a pile of opened, discarded ballots, claiming on camera that vote rigging is underway and that votes from your polling station are being thrown away. The post goes viral and you feel that the system is compromised. As a result, you might decide to stay home because voting would be pointless.
Image source: Element5 Digital from
PexelsWe are living in a time defined by fast-moving changes in artificial intelligence and digital media. The ability to generate convincing fake videos is heading into unchartered territory, creating anything from simulated electoral violence to absurd digital fabrications, all requiring minimal technical effort or skill.
When this digital disinformation combines with online harms such as hate speech and incitement, the consequences can extend beyond the digital feeds we are scrolling through. They can threaten real-world safety, lead to self censorship and undermine democratic integrity.
Mitigating harm
Mitigating digital harms requires a coordinated, multi-sector response across government, technology platforms, civil society and the private sector. Those wanting to undermine electoral processes often have significant tools and resources at their disposal and counteracting these efforts requires the same coordination, rigour and resolve.
The Independent Electoral Commission is constitutionally mandated to ensure free, fair and credible elections, but protecting democratic participation cannot only rest on the shoulders of the electoral authority, parliament, the judiciary or the media.
Merel van der Lei 29 Sep 2026 The IEC has promulgated a dedicated Disinformation Code of Conduct that imposes clear obligations on political parties and candidates, with severe breaches being subject to referral to the Electoral Court.
Central to enforcing these standards is Real411, an independent public reporting portal established in partnership with key media and civic bodies, including the South African National Editors’ Forum, the Press Council of South Africa and IAB South Africa. Having already supported the IEC across three previous election cycles, Real411 provides a transparent mechanism grounded in South African law and constitutional principles.
Real411
Historically, SA citizens who wanted to report digital hate speech or disinformation had to rely on their social media platform reporting mechanisms. Those reviews were conducted using opaque global guidelines that rarely reflected local constitutional standards. Real411 changed this dynamic by subjecting reported content to an open, accountable and legally sound evaluation process.
For example:
- Every incoming complaint is assessed against standard constitutional and legal criteria by three members of a dedicated digital complaints committee.
- A qualified legal practitioner serving as secretariat conducts a secondary review to form the final determination.
- Findings are shared across specialised teams within the IEC.
- Where breaches occur, Real411 can request swift platform remediation, refer hate speech matters to the South African Human Rights Commission or support the IEC in bringing matters before the Electoral Court.
- Complaints are also fed into the Partnership on Information Integrity in Elections (PIIE) - a coalition of nearly 30 expert entities, including digital forensics firms like Murmur Intelligence, scientific bodies like the CSIR, civil society groups such as the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC), and academic research units like Cinia. This allows for early identification of systemic disinformation trends.
Legal expertise
Bowmans partnered with Real411 through its pro bono programme, led by its head of Pro Bono Fatima Laher. As part of this pilot project, the firm mobilised lawyers from across the firm’s South African office as volunteer reviewers on the digital complaints committee. They review reported online harms against constitutional and legal criteria. The lawyers involved were trained to assess complaints consistently and in accordance with the platform’s legal framework.
Bowmans' collaboration with Real411 extends beyond case assessment to public awareness efforts, including webinars hosted jointly with the IEC and Moxii Africa to educate the public about the platform and its processes.
Vital innovation
There are several key reasons why this platform is a vital innovation.
Firstly, it deepens international best practice for multi-stakeholder electoral defence and it serves as a global model despite South Africa’s relatively modest size on the global tech stage. It also demonstrates that domestic, constitutionally aligned solutions in South Africa can effectively protect democratic processes and empower citizens.
Further, it offers citizens a single, clear channel to report digital harms without needing to navigate differing rules across multiple private social platforms. The public can submit via the webpage, a dedicated app or through WhatsApp. It also enforces platform accountability based on local legal standards while also preserving constitutionally protected media freedom.
Safeguarding free and fair elections in the digital era requires active civic vigilance backed by strong legal structures. I think that through this partnership, South Africa is demonstrating how constitutional principles, civil society innovation and private sector legal expertise can unite to protect the ballot box and is further reason to celebrate our democracy.
