A recent Open Source Intelligence Report by an American cybersecurity company hired by Ugandan Intelligence services has revealed that nearly 50% of the accounts that follow Bobi Wine on Twitter and Facebook are fake!
According to sources, social media accounts were created by servers and IP addresses in a neighboring country.
These are the accounts that are most vociferous and vicious in their attacks on the Ugandan government, the President, and senior government officials.
The company described Bobi Wine's social media presence as a sophisticated disinformation campaign run by experts.
It is not surprising that on several occasions, the fake social media accounts have been publishing fake news in order to sow seeds of anger, division along what is seen as our lines of polarization such as tribe and religion in the country.
The most recent fake news circulated by the same group shows an old photo of a badly beaten individual. The social media accounts have claimed that the person in the photo is Nubian Li, an associate of Bobi Wine although the police have released photos of the singer with no single scratch. His counterpart; Eddie Mutwe's photo has also been shared. Mr. Mutwe can be seen smiling ear to ear!
Interestingly, whenever Bobi Wine and his associates are being talked about, the Trends section on Twitter reveals that the subject matter being discussed relates to American politics as seen in the screenshot above.