.Says s’media influencers earn N500,000 to malign opposition
From Okwe Obi, Abuja
Centre for Democracy and Democracy and Development (CDD) has accused presidential spokesmen of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party’s Peter Obi among others of purveyors of misinformation.
This claim was contained in a 10-page report, titled: Online operations: Nigeria’s 2023 social media election campaigns.
Its Director, Idayat Hassan, in a statement yesterday, said the report revealed, also, how disinformation created lucrative opportunities, for social media influencers to earn up to N500,000 (US$1200) a month, whilst those with smaller followings receive nearer N50,000 (US$110) monthly.
She said: “For the first time, presidential candidates’ spokespersons, across all main parties, are pushing disinformation using their own social media handles. An analysis of breaches of the Peace Accord moderated by the National Peace Committee revealed more than 63% of the infractions were on social media.
“But it is not just party activists that are more directly involved, parties are again using networks of aligned supporters to win the ‘online war’.
“In the 2019 elections the Atikulated Youth Force, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP social media support base for its presidential candidate, and the Buhari Media Centre (BMC), with links to the All Progressives Congress (APC), dominated the online discourse.
“Such groups are still present in 2023, although part of the BMC has now evolved to centre around APC presidential candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu as BATified.
“However they have been supplanted in 2023 by Obidients – a name given to the supporters of the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi.
“They are the most active online actors in this election. In addition to promoting the candidacy of Obi many have been accused of spreading disinformation.
“In fact the candidate himself sought to call them to order in September 2022, after his presidential campaign was accused of using overzealous social media supporters to skew the narrative in his favour.
“Obi also distanced himself from any supporters engagement in malicious campaign against his opponents in a series of tweets. But malicious online campaigns engineered by all leading parties continue to be a prevailing feature of Nigeria’s information ecosystem.”
Hassan added that the report averred that in 2023, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp, TikTok, with their video content have played a dominant role in feeding citizens with content, especially video based information, which connects people beyond digital divides.
“So too are Twitter Spaces, which are recorded and then shared, as a podcast, across social media platforms in ways that increases listenership.
“Cross-platform posting remains critical to understanding Nigeria’s digital ecosystem as screen grabs or content from one platform can be shared across all others, broadening the reach beyond the number of direct users.
“Content also moves from online forums into offline spaces with soldiers of mouth spreading online content through streets talks, in motor parks and at newspaper stands. This makes curbing disinformation very challenging in Nigeria.
“But at the same time these networks for the flow of information can also promote democracy.
“Civic awareness of the continuous voter’s registration process and the importance of participating has largely been driven by a sustained online campaign in the run-up to 2023, while the platforms can be used to fact check and hold elected and aspiring officials to account.
“Finding a balance that accentuates these positives and diminishes the negative aspects must be a priority as the elections approach.”