Politicians and government bodies among top influencers in Rwanda’s election

Politicians and government agencies were among the top influencers during last year’s presidential elections in Rwanda, a new study shows.

The study titled “How Africa Tweets” released on Wednesday by a UK-based consultancy shows how Twitter remains an influential platform to drive discussions and shaping opinions online.

“Twitter remains an influential platform to engage institutional voices around key moments,” Robert Watkinson, Portland’s Partner for Africa said in a statement.

Journalists and news outlets were the leading influencers, accounting for 34 per cent of influential Twitter handles.

However, the use of bots —accounts with machine-like behaviour— was less significant in Rwanda compared to other countries like Kenya, where it accounted for 25 percent of the influential voices, Lesotho 20 percent, Equatorial Guinea 19 percent, Liberia 12 percent and Angola 9 percent.

Across all elections, bots served primarily to agitate, pushing negative narratives about major issues, candidates, and perceived electoral abnormalities, the report says.

After the elections, many bots had their content deleted, with some turning their attention to affairs outside Africa.

The survey was done by Portland Communications.