Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change

In this episode Adam Armstrong speaks to Jean Le Roux, a Research Associate at Digital Forensic Research Lab, about Jean Le Roux’s recent article, in which Jean and the DFLR reveal the real-world identity of a Twitter user that has been driving the xenophobic #PutSouthAfricansFirst campaign in South Africa. Jean revealed that the Twitter user @uLerato_pillay is in actual fact a disgraced South African Soldier, Sifiso J. Gwala. In this episode, the first of three with Jean, the techniques Jean used to ‘unmask’ Sifiso Gwala are discussed, as is the nature of the #PutSouthAfricanFirst campaign.

In this episode, we track the recent history of narrative manipulation and its potential for sowing division on issues, national social cohesion and elections. It looks at how you become a target based on your online profile.