Polls: How parties used social media to manipulate voters

A new report on the 2021 election has faulted the ruling NRM party for turning the digital space into a tool for manipulating voters by presenting fake information, placing data out of context, and targeting its opponents with it.
The report tilted; Digital Voter Manipulation: A situational analysis of how online spaces were used as a manipulative tool during Uganda’s 2021 General Election, states that although the election took place amid the Covid-19 pandemic, digital platforms and social media became more important as a source of voter information.

The report by Africa Institute of Investigative Journalism and Konrad Adenuer Stiftung analysed two Twitter hashtags #WeAreRemovingADictator and #SecureYourFuture, which were used by supporters of presidential candidates Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, and Yoweri Museveni, respectively.

The report released in Kampala last week also faulted players such as Opposition supporters and some media outlets. 
“However, the government remained the biggest player when it came to efforts to digitally manipulate voters,” the report says.
According to the report, government coordinated inauthentic behaviour to influence and distort online conversation, adding that there is no evidence that Opposition players went to similar lengths.

“The examples of efforts towards manipulating voters indicate a willingness on the part of the government to increasingly control the online narrative. 
Its unsurprising decision to completely switch off the Internet on the eve of the 2021 elections concretises such moves as part of how states are manipulating and controlling their citizenry today,” the report notes.
The report noted digital voter manipulation when several social media accounts linked to the NRM party and candidate Museveni were involved in coordinated inauthentic behaviour.

The report says affected accounts were involved in what an investigation by the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) called a “coordinated campaign” to promote Mr Museveni ahead of the election.
Among others, the accounts posted verbatim messages supporting Mr Museveni and his government while criticising the Opposition, particularly Bobi Wine.
In one instance, a tweet by the then senior presidential press secretary Don Wanyama elicited the exact response from eight different accounts.

On November 30, 2020, Mr Wanyama tweeted: “As @KagutaMuseveni heads to Pallisa, this road, in final stages, will be a game changer in this part of the country. This is what we mean by #SecuringYourFuture #Sevolution”.
The identical responses to his tweet were posted minutes apart, between 11:17am and 11:21am, DFRLab found.
“Such online activity suggested the existence of a coordinated digital strategy aimed at amplifying messages that portrayed the incumbent in good light, in this case, by juxtaposing his campaign trail with a tarmacked road- a sign of development,” says the report.

“It is worth noting that by virtue of being the sitting President, Mr Museveni enjoys unfettered access to state resources and more positive coverage by the media, compared to any of his rivals. 
This unfair balance in media coverage has previously been part of the grounds for filing a presidential election petition,” the report adds.

The report says by amplifying Mr Wanyama’s tweet in such coordinated fashion, the suspect accounts contributed to online efforts aimed at purposely giving Mr Museveni in power a positive framing as an agent of development.
The DFRLab investigation on such pre- election suspect online activity led Facebook and Twitter to execute a purge in which more than 100 pro-Museveni and pro-government accounts were pulled down.  
DFRLab said after they submitted their findings, the two platforms conducted separate investigations and took action “against assets for violating their rules regarding coordinated inauthentic behaviour.”

Facebook’s internal investigation, according to a statement, attributed the network to a group within Uganda’s Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology.
Quoting the African Centre for Media Excellence, the report says while Bobi Wine had the biggest coverage in newspapers, TV, and radio in November 2020, it was largely negative.
On the other hand,  the incumbent was covered waving at supporters and opening infrastructural projects but his challenger was covered facing police brutality or in defiance of Covid-19 guidelines.

The report also took note of the Internet shutdown on the election day, and six more days, saying that the decision indicates a higher level of readiness or tact in how the two used the Internet or limited how others used it.
“This indicates that the government, just like a number of others world over, is only getting better at using digital spaces to manipulate and also control the online narrative. 
Whether this is through the use of fake accounts or the ultimate decision to completely switch off the Internet, the Ugandan government recognises the role and power of the internet and has proven it is keen on exerting its control online, too,” the report says.

According to the report, the shutdown in itself could be interpreted as manipulation or at least a last resort when it comes to manipulative efforts and says switching off the Internet alongside efforts such as coordinated inauthentic behaviour are becoming the go-to moves for a number of governments, and are getting good at it.
“Access to the Internet is increasingly being weaponised as a control tool and the argument often fronted is that restrictions are aimed at ensuring national security, although little to no evidence to support this is ever provided,” the report says.
According to NetBlocks.org, Uganda  lost Shs39.5 billion during the six days of Internet shutdown.

The report says in its continued attempt to control the narrative both online and offline, Ugandan laws have increasingly readied the regime to crack down on anti-government activists both at home and abroad. 
More recently, the government set up an Electronic Counter Measure Unit (ECMU) under the Uganda Police Force to detect and investigate crimes committed using online platforms including Facebook, YouTube, and WhatsApp.

FAKE PR FIRM, WEBSITE IMPLICATED
The report also states that apart from the creation of fake accounts, a PR firm and a news website were also implicated by the DFRLab investigation. Respectively, Robusto Communications Co Ltd and Kampala Times Media Limited –two private companies incorporated in Uganda in 2019, amplified pro-Museveni messages. The PR firm’s now-deleted Twitter account, @RobustoUg, often retweeted Mr Museveni and his supporters tweets or posted links to the Kampala Times website – kampalatimesug.com, which was created in August 21, 2020.

According to DFRLab, “although the website was created in August 2020, the Facebook page for the company was created on May 29 of that year, soon followed by its Twitter account @KampalaTimes_ on June 5. “The first post to the Kampala Times Facebook page was a profile picture with information about Robusto Communications, indicating a clear connection between the two companies.”