<
https://theconversation.com/ai-propaganda-campaign-in-rwanda-has-been-pushing-pro-kagame-messages-a-dangerous-new-trend-in-africa-234296>
"At the end of May 2024, several media outlets led by the journalist network
Forbidden Stories released a set of reports titled “Rwanda Classified”. This
reporting detailed evidence related to the suspicious death of Rwandan
journalist and government critic John Williams Ntwali.
The reports include additional details on Kigali’s efforts to silence critics.
As a political scientist with a background studying digital disinformation and
African politics, I work with the Media Forensics Hub, which monitors the
internet for evidence of coordinated influence operations. Following the
publication of
Rwanda Classified, we identified at least 464 accounts that
flooded online discussions of the report with content supportive of the Paul
Kagame regime.
Many of the accounts we tied to this network had been active on X/Twitter since
January 2024. During this time the network produced over 650,000 messages.
Rwandans voted on 15 July 2024. The presidential result was a foregone
conclusion due in no small part to the expulsion of opposition candidates,
harassment of journalists and assassination of critics. Kagame garnered over
99% of the vote.
Even though the outcome was inevitable, accounts in the network were repurposed
to promote Kagame’s candidacy online. The inauthentic posts will likely be used
as evidence of the president’s popularity and the legitimacy of the election.
In both the response to
Rwanda Classified and the pro-Kagame presidential
campaign, we identified the use of AI tools to disrupt online discussions and
promote government narratives. The Large Language Model ChatGPT was one of the
tools used.
The coordinated use of these tools is ominous. It’s a sign that the methods
used to manipulate perceptions and maintain power are getting more
sophisticated. Generative AI enables networks to produce a higher volume of
varied content in comparison to solely human-operated campaigns.
In this instance, the consistency of posting patterns and content markers made
it easier to detect the network. Future campaigns will likely refine these
techniques, making it harder to detect inauthentic discussion.
African researchers, policymakers and citizens need to be aware of the
potential challenges posed by the use of Generative AI in the production of
regional propaganda."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
