South Africans on Twitter are witnessing the rise of an influential anti-immigrant lobby and thousands have unwittingly become complicit in the explosion of a weaponised conversation.

Now, an analysis of the social media conversation by the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change has deemed Lerato to be part of a ‘dangerously orchestrated narrative’ that has affected at least 50,000 accounts so far.

The anonymous Twitter account, framed as an avatar of the disenchanted South African, Lerato Pillay, has been skilfully corralling all that anger, betrayal and helplessness over corruption, unemployment and crime into one single campaign driven by the hashtag, #PutSouthAfricaFirst.

What is, at first glance, an innocent hashtag, has been repurposed to weaponise South African outrage. And, that anger is being directed at African immigrants.

The Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change (CABC) conducted a deep dive of the conversation around the hashtag on Twitter and found evidence of a “dangerously orchestrated narrative”.

“There are certainly patriotic or nationalistic South Africans who are innocently roped into the conversation. Many are unaware of the more sinister motives of the network,” says Stef Snel, director of the Dialogue Facilitation Team at the CABC.

The conversation is built around a cult of personality, that of a fictional Lerato Pillay who operates as the Twitter user, @uLerato_pillay.

This account has amassed a sizeable army that likes, shares and retweets material, much of which serves to amplify one primary message:

That African immigrants in Mzansi must be sent packing;
that they’re depriving South Africans of jobs; that they are burdening the country’s public health system and; that they are responsible for crimes, and even infrastructure damage.

Having coalesced around uLerato on their myriad angers — be that anti-ANC or anti-EFF sentiments, gripes about corruption or crime or even political ambition– thousands of South Africans have unwittingly become the foot soldiers as they feed the beast with “case studies” of misbehaving immigrants from Limpopo to Kempton Park.

Daily Maverick recently published a detailed article by a team from Digital Forensics Research Lab, which began to examine the true identity of uLerato_pillay.

Now, the CABC has probed the conversation involving the uLerato account and the #PutSouthAfricaFirst hashtag and reached alarming conclusions.

They found evidence that the account sits at the centre of a well-oiled propaganda machine that is sophisticated and co-ordinated while circumstantial evidence also suggests it could be funded to the tune of around R1-million a month (23 million naira).

The main uLerato_pillay account, created in November 2019, is the primary driver of the anti-immigrant campaign. The account seems to be managed by a real person because it generates its own content. And, although there are roughly eight alias Leratos in the network (new ones crop up almost daily), the main one is so prolific that it is unlikely that just one person is managing it.

This account is backed by a web of roughly 80 interconnected Twitter accounts that serve as her main channel into the Twittersphere, essentially an echo chamber. The CABC team linked them, in part, due to the frequency at which they interact with each other, recycle one another’s tweets and the fact that they display the same engagement methods as well as a sense of familiarity.

This is a network that is sophisticated and tech-savvy. Accounts in the organised arm thereof take on the appearance of real people who have a genuine interest in a conversation. They take content from ordinary people and feed it back into the network, thereby creating a false impression that they are real and engaged participants in the conversation.

“They don’t just manufacture outrage. They weaponise it,” one of the analysts said.

FULL ARTICLE
https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-08-18-ulerato_pillay-how-the-xenophobic-network-around-putsouthafricafirst-was-born-and-then-metastasised/

sad

That is good for our leaders

These lazy, jealous and useless Buffon's will keep blaming Nigerians until they drown. Nigerian is their only problem.

These lazy species keeps surprising me everyday, they are angry because Nigerians are taking over their businesses there.

Black South Africans are really tech savvy. This is really sophisticated like the Russians and well funded - 23 million a month.

lceyjayz:
These lazy, jealous and useless Buffon's will keep blaming Nigerians until they drown. Nigerian is their only problem.

If Nigerians not running from home and they not there in big numbers no one will care

This is the fault of nyamuri flat.heads!! They are a nuisance to every community they find themselves

Ibo are into drug peddling, prostitution, fraud and all types of vices!! 90% of crimes and atrocities are committed by these bia.fraud war and osu caste system survivors

Asnafsaeed:
This is the fault of nyamuri flat.heads!! They are a nuisance to every community they find themselves

Ibo are into drug peddling, prostitution, fraud and all types of vices!! 90% of crimes and atrocities are committed by these bia.fraud war and osu caste system survivors

So we must be on the lookout for these Ibo people. My other friend told me the same thing. So it's true?

That account is like divest twitter.

Divest twitter are group of black women that spent 24 hours on Twitter looking for tweets about black men and mocking them daily.

They want black women to date and married white or asian men, they are advocating for black men deaths and also jubilate when police or anything bad leads to black men/boys death.

Most of the accounts were created this year mostly may and June, it's obvious there's a sinister move behind it but most bitter black women are now the foot soldiers

.. Nigerian DICKSON & South African PUSSINA ............... Are like D in P !!!

Supermugu:
.. Nigerian DICKSON & South African PUSSINA ............... Are like D in P !!!

Lerato Pillay and her followers definitely think Nigerian Dickson stinks and we can see all of SA supports her views. Otherwise you guys would not be complaining about xenophobia and being killed

Asnafsaeed:
This is the fault of nyamuri flat.heads!! They are a nuisance to every community they find themselves

Ibo are into drug peddling, prostitution, fraud and all types of vices!! 90% of crimes and atrocities are committed by these bia.fraud war and osu caste system survivors

...., and when next peace air is going on rescue mission... all Yoruba must not enter the plane...

Since they’re majority returnees the last time .. they should call Tinubu to send bring them back.. so those igbos can return

They keep saying igbos ..... but reality of ground says yorubas
Even cultism in South Africa is a Yoruba thing...
Argue with Davido and his men..

A propaganda network of lazy South African youths.


kiss the truth!

This shit hole is breaking up slowly but steadily... I laugh at anyone who feels there hope for this country... There is more hope for Afghanistan than Nigeria....



Everyone knows we're rich in every single thing except human development..

So lol everyone is just waiting for it to break so that they can Scramble for it... China being wise is making investments already... You wont see trains in the south, but you will see them were the Chinese feel there will be a lot of confusion after the break hence pretending to put everything back on will quench the confusion and turn the people to slaves....



The only people I pity are the middle beltans because the little christianity left there will be quenched should a break occur...because as the maps say there are in the middle belt but are still part of the north......



The yoruba's are like wolfs very intelligent and very hard working,but the dog part of a wolf has made him loyal to the bird just because it has wings... The bird eats up everything the wolf helps catch and remains just enough to keep the wolf loyal... But imagine a pack of wolfs ruled by wolfs .



The ibgos..are elephants very powerful and majestic and can make it we're everyone else can't.., but when it comes to putting forces together everyone starts remembering which elephant lives in the jungle, or which lives in the plains or which lives in the Savannah.. they too have become loyal to the bird not because it has wings but because each group of elephants have sent envoys without the knowledge of each other to the bird who tells each of them the same thing and that is "you are greater than your brother" a lie they believe.



The Niger deltans.. are a group of bees living together in a colony providing honey to the bird who promises not to eat them provided they shut up and keep producing honey.. even when the the bird is also spoiling their comb by taking more than honey.. they don't complain because when they do the bird eats few of them and no other bee wants to be eaten so a swarm of bees who are a million more plentier and stronger shuts up...the queen bees prefer to be submissive even when they are a greater foe.....



Whose the bird, I'll leave you to answer..



Here's to who we are!!

Bunch of hypocritical cowards...

But not for long fellas..



#join_the_movement

Bad belle blood no get cure

Bannylove13:


...., and when next peace air is going on rescue mission... all Yoruba must not enter the plane...

Since they’re majority returnees the last time .. they should call Tinubu to send bring them back.. so those igbos can return

They keep saying igbos ..... but reality of ground says yorubas
Even cultism in South Africa is a Yoruba thing...
Argue with Davido and his men..

I thought you guys say Yoruba don't travel. Little did you know that there's no part of the world you won't find Yoruba. In the case of South Africa, they were going about their businesses legitimately before the attacks, they had to suffer for the purported crime committed by our brodas from the other side. However, they're left with no choice than come back home and start all over again.

kiss the truth!

TMKsouth:


You mean like the lazy Russian youths with anti-US propaganda?

Are you one of the subjugated lazy black southies worshipping the feet of your white overlords?

kiss the truth!

Bannylove13:


Yoruba rant..

Let's face those xenophobic beasts baying for another rounds of blood.

kiss the truth!

TMKsouth:


Aren't Nigerians the ones wishing to be recolonised so that things can finally get to work over there? I'm counting down the seconds til you mention how whites (your heroes) are SA saviours.

3...2...1...

Don't you live in the Poverty Capital of the World or something? You still defecating in the same water you drink?

But the whites are still defecating on your head. You're the only African country still under the whites colonialists. Better be free than knee before those who brutalized the ass of your forefathers & kicked your head while in your mother's womb.

kiss the truth!

Asnafsaeed:
This is the fault of nyamuri flat.heads!! They are a nuisance to every community they find themselves

Ibo are into drug peddling, prostitution, fraud and all types of vices!! 90% of crimes and atrocities are committed by these bia.fraud war and osu caste system survivors

Thank God they are not bombing, kidnapping and raping people.if foolanis and hausas are allowed visa into SA,they would have turned SA to another borno where they kidnap school girls and turn them to sex slaves .

Bannylove13:


...., and when next peace air is going on rescue mission... all Yoruba must not enter the plane...

Since they’re majority returnees the last time .. they should call Tinubu to send bring them back.. so those igbos can return

They keep saying igbos ..... but reality of ground says yorubas
Even cultism in South Africa is a Yoruba thing...
Argue with Davido and his men..

Na aboki be that bro.

YorubaRitualist:

Thank God they are not bombing, kidnapping and raping people.if foolanis and hausas are allowed visa into SA,they would have turned SA to another borno where they kidnap school girls and turn them to sex slaves .

OMG! Is that the case? We South AfricanS are in trouble.

TMKsouth:


Aren't Nigerians the ones wishing to be recolonised so that things can finally get to work over there? I'm counting down the seconds til you mention how whites (your heroes) are SA saviours.

3...2...1...

Don't you live in the Poverty Capital of the World or something? You still defecating in the same water you drink?

Funny!