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Earlier this week, #TracyZille was propelled to the top of SA's trending lists by her controversially racist tweets.
My investigation for @DFRLab tracked down the man making money from the account: a government official and EFF councillor from Makhado. https://medium.com/dfrlab/government-official-monetized-racial-tensions-on-south-african-social-media-d99b9f2b3995
My investigation for @DFRLab tracked down the man making money from the account: a government official and EFF councillor from Makhado. https://medium.com/dfrlab/government-official-monetized-racial-tensions-on-south-african-social-media-d99b9f2b3995
Tracy Zille's tweets were meant to shock and spark outrage, attracting users to its profile where it tweeted click-bait links to off platform websites.
The aim? Monetise the traffic through Google @AdSense adverts on the site.
The aim? Monetise the traffic through Google @AdSense adverts on the site.
Even though he tried to hide his association with these websites, our investigation identified that these three sites - and at least 5 more - used the same Google Adsense and Analytics codes, meaning the revenue they generate is paid to the same person.
Historic WHOIS records still contained the e-mail address used to register the account...which in turn provided the name of the person that registered all these websites:
Anthony Matumba an EFF CCT member and Makhado Local Municipality councillor and employee.
Anthony Matumba an EFF CCT member and Makhado Local Municipality councillor and employee.
Though the link was removed from the main page, a company registered to Matumba was mentioned in the "Contact Us" page for one of the websites.
Matumba also posted links to the same sites using his personal Twitter and Facebook accounts long before Tracy Zille was created.
Matumba also posted links to the same sites using his personal Twitter and Facebook accounts long before Tracy Zille was created.
A person by the name "Abel Mushi" - a pseudonym used on search67 - was wrongly accused of running the account by Twitter "investigators".
Criminal cases was opened against the individual, and his personal details published despite no evidence linking him to account or site.
Criminal cases was opened against the individual, and his personal details published despite no evidence linking him to account or site.
Evidence linking Matumba to this "Abel Mushi" seen on the sites registered in his name could be found in a Facebook post made by Matumba in July 2019, in which he thanked an Abel Mushi for "teaching me everything I know about computers".
What is more, there is evidence that #TracyZille is but one account in a small network of accounts spamming celebrities and prominent Twitter accounts with links to Matumba's various websites.
Using racist rhetoric as a lever to propagate disinformation serves to undermine legitimate concerns around race and identity.
This is even worse when an elected leader and government official, willfully participates in such conduct for narrow personal gain.
This is even worse when an elected leader and government official, willfully participates in such conduct for narrow personal gain.
For sticking around - this is what mentions of #TracyZille looked like between 12h50 on 7 July and 10h00 on 8 July, a period during which the account gained about 20 000 followers.
