‘Social media a contributor to propaganda’
CRIMINOLOGIST Niven Naidoo says creating propaganda and inciting violence is much easier now, because of social media.
According to Naidoo, who specialises in data analysis for safety and security, police did not have a method of investigating online crimes, which he said was widespread.
“Requirements preventing such crimes are lacking. Social media gives an ‘instigator’ an option to broadcast thoughts to the entire country. One can also target the post to a specific audience or persons via social media websites. This is the age of propaganda. It takes 10 hours to investigate a post, but if Facebook thinks it’s according to the guidelines, they don't remove it,” he said.
Naidoo added that creating division was a tactic commonly used by political parties to break up the voting groups, allowing the majority of people who had control to prevent a strong opposition.
“In KZN, historically there has been a greater political violence threat, with the mass division. I hope security services have learnt after the July 2021 unrest and are better prepared to handle violence should there be a recurrence. These cases of violence destroys any progress we have made since democracy.
“Communities should avoid being used as tools for political instability and inciting violence. If there is unrest again, there will be a higher loss of life, so people must listen to verified information from selected people and not rely on social media and disinformation, which makes people fearful and act irrationally,” Naidoo added.
Gareth Newham, a crime expert from the Institute for Security Studies, commended the police and criminal justice system for bringing criminal charges against individuals who tried to incite violence.
“This sends out a message that inciting violence is not acceptable and that there are serious consequences.
“During the July 2021 unrest, for about a week instigators were making threats on social media and they were not proactively dealt with. They were left free to commit large-scale violence.
“The charges against those inciting violence is a good sign as it shows that the State is taking the issue more seriously,” he said.
Newham warned that state security agencies needed to recognise threats to national security so that they could closely monitor instigators who indicated they wanted to use violence to “get their way”.
“Instigators must be taken seriously. But I don’t think we will see the same levels of violence in this election like we saw in the 2021 unrest, largely because the unrest was a wake-up call for police and crime intelligence.
“Most people in KZN who were affected by the violence will be less likely to get involved in large-scale looting and destruction because thousands of people lost their jobs and hundreds of them lost their lives. The unrest caused a shortage of food and a host of other problems, so I think that people realise that this kind of destruction is not worth it,” he added.
He urged police to rapidly respond to violence and retain the public’s faith by acting speedily.