Breaking news: Faking it is here to stay
THE woman who opened the can of worms about ANC “dirty tricks” this week is a shy, beautiful and lanky single mom with links to top celebs.
Sihle Bolani, 33, was TV personality Bonang Matheba’s best friend until they fell out. In 2011, the pair were often seen on Matheba’s “webisodes”, shopping, playing dress-up and going to clubs and top events.
Bolani completed a course in brand building and management at Vega School of Design and Marketing.
Before starting Sihle Bolani Communications, she co-owned Angel Dust Management company, which managed artists and events. She has worked with soccer club Black Aces and done media work for Majota “Phat Joe” Khambule, the spokesman for slain SABC employee Hope Zinde’s family.
Bolani was romantically linked to rapper AKA. She is believed to be engaged to businessman Spike Bridge, who works closely with rapper Cassper Nyovest.
Bolani is alleged to have been a key member of a covert ANC campaign targeting opposition parties ahead of last year’s local government elections. Its intention was to secretly “disempower” them with fake posters and social media posts.
The ANC has denied working with Bolani, who refused to speak to the Sunday Times this week. She unsuccessfully went to court this week to force the ANC to pay her.
Earlier this week she told 702’s Redi Tlhabi she had received death threats.
“It’s been incredibly tough when you are struggling to put food on the table for your child or you don’t know how you’re going to pay school fees or are unable to pay your employees.” FAKE news played such a big role in global politics in 2016 that the Oxford Dictionary recognised the term “post-truth” as the word of the year. Post-truth refers to a world in which objective facts are secondary to emotion or personal belief.
In elections, social media as a campaign tool has become non-negotiable. However, it has also created a more sinister world where fake news is used to push a candidate, an agenda or a party.
Social media lawyer Emma Sadleir said there was no question that fake news had played a role in influencing voter behaviour in the US presidential and Brexit votes.
“What we saw in South Africa was a pretty failed attempt so it didn’t have as much impact.” BEST COMPANY: Sihle Bolani TRUE LOVE: From left, Pope Francis, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
Sadleir said that before the advent of social media, people received news and information from traditional media channels regulated by press codes and media law.
But, she said, social media provided wide-ranging access with little accountability, allowing “anyone to have their own agenda”.
Xolani Dube, a senior researcher at the Xubera Institute Of Research And Development think-tank, said fake news had existed before social media. “During the Cold War it was called propaganda.”
However, in the current context this propaganda had expanded from politics into all aspects of life.
Political analyst Daniel Silke said it was “difficult to quantify the effect of fake news” on the US and Brexit votes, but the rapid sharing of news and its manipulation could have a “cumulative effect on how we process news and information”.
During the Brexit campaign, fake news sites shared false information indicating that the vote had been extended to a second day.
An analysis of pre-US election news by website Buzzfeed found that in the three months leading to the polls, people engaged more with fake news stories on Facebook than traditional ones from 19 major news outlets. Among the trending fake news stories were that Pope Francis had endorsed Donald Trump and that WikiLeaks had shown that Hillary Clinton had sold arms to Islamic State. A similar analysis of fake news by Buzzfeed found that it had failed to gain as much traction in the UK because this space was taken up by the tabloid press.
US journalists uncovered fake news “factories” in Russia and Georgia that churned out proTrump content. An investigation ordered by former president Barack Obama uncovered a Russian “influence” campaign which included covert operations as well as social media campaigns, and “trolls” aimed at interfering with the poll.
Trump aide Kellyanne Conway recently used the phrase “alternative facts”. Silke said: “If the president of the US is prepared to sanction the false news narrative, this adds to its status and could be emulated by regimes around the world.”