Whilst social media has served greatly as a tool for communication, it has over the years been also abused for misinformation. Recent sentiments by the Zimbabwe National Army Commander that there was need for the military to monitor social media has surprisingly managed to attract a volley of criticism and sparked debate in the public domain, the same public that the army intends to safeguard.
Lest we forget; the roles of the army over the years continue to morph in response and accordance to the threats impinging the nation or world at that particular time. The military’s roles include but not limited to serve the people, to defend the nation, to protect vital national interests; and of late the digital era has been among the many threats affecting most governments, another responsibility yet to be fully exploited by the military.
Whilst it might appear as invasion of privacy or breach of one’s freedom, wait till a mere tweet or Facebook post poses a threat to the nation’s security, only then will Zimbabweans appreciate the need for social media monitoring by the army.
The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) has come out in the open criticising this move by the army, though acknowledging that the military did have valid concerns regarding the national security matrix.
“Our position as Misa Zimbabwe is that the whole process of regulation of the digital space should be left to the civilian arm of the government through the Ministry of ICTs. Where there are challenges pertaining to that law when it comes into effect that should be dealt with by the police,” they said.
Valid as this might sound, but still this then begs the question, should media pluralism, freedom of expression supersede national security?
At the same time, isn’t having many hands on deck to capacitate easy detection of internet abuse critical; especially if the personnel has a greater appreciation of threat assessment in matters regarding national security better?
In 2011, Egypt was the first country to be cut off from the internet and social media for national security. In January 2015, telecommunications providers in the Democratic Republic of Congo were requested by the government to not only discontinue the internet but also SMS services to prevent continued nationwide protests against President Joseph Kabila. Similarly, in neighbouring Congo-Brazzaville, elections were held with a 48 hours’ blackout of internet, telephone and SMS services. In April 2015, protests arose in Burundi after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced that he would be running for a third term in office which was widely regarded as unconstitutional and social media was disconnected for several days to avoid fuelling protests.
These are just but instances when governments had to move in quickly in order to contain abuse of social media and ultimately safeguard national security.
Having the army being involved doesn’t necessarily suggest surveillance on people’s private conversation, instead it also assists in self-regulation from the public as they would appreciate the reparations likely to be attracted by social media abuse.
In countries like the UK, criminal behaviour on social media is not tolerated. Recently MDC activist, William Chiyanga, was arrested and fired from his job after promoting terrorism in Zimbabwe on social media, hence criminality on social media should be discouraged at any cost.
True, social media platforms has reengineered social interaction among peers, businesses, governments and so on but it is also a fact that the same platforms are being used to advance social and national insecurity, such as the situation in the northern and south-eastern parts of Nigeria where terrorism and propaganda have been the order of the day, with the government struggling to contain it. Surely we cannot wait for things to escalate to such an extent before we act as Zimbabweans.
Likewise in Kenya and the US, social media has been used by terrorist organizations for ideological radicalization, recruitment, communication and training of its members. Evidence suggest that social media has been abused by terrorist Islamic groups for propaganda activities aimed at making public successful terrorist attacks, and throwing civil population into panic. At the same time threats to national security such as drug smuggling, human trafficking and money-laundering has also been largely carried out on the internet and coordinated on social media.
Kenya contends that the military use social media for military operations, communicating process of operation, boost morale of soldiers, clarify on propaganda messages sent by enemies and dispelling rumors, for updating civilians on progress of military operation, for public relations and operations such as “operation Linda Kenya”.
Studies have also found that military uses social media as tools for diplomacy in gathering and disseminating information. Surely Zimbabwe is no exception, and could borrow a leaf or two from our counterparts.
