Experts Warn of Paid Hashtags, Online Attacks on Female Politicians Ahead of 2027 Polls

.Raise alarm over impersonation, cyberbullying, manipulation of X trends

Sunday Aborisade in Abuja

Experts at a roundtable on election integrity have warned that the manipulation of trending topics on X, formerly Twitter, through fake giveaways, impersonation and paid posts could intensify online attacks against female politicians and undermine credible political discourse ahead of the 2027 general elections.

The experts cautioned that coordinated digital campaigns could amplify defamatory allegations, distort public perception and create a false impression of widespread support for particular political narratives, threatening informed political participation as preparations for the elections gather momentum.

They spoke in Abuja at a roundtable organised by DigiAfricaLab, in collaboration with TechHer and DigiCivic Initiative, on the theme, ‘Digital Threats, Platform Responsibility and Nigeria’s 2027 Elections’.

Speaking at the event, Rosemary Ajayi of DigiAfricaLab, said organised networks could manipulate X’s trending lists by deploying coordinated posts, offering fraudulent incentives to users and impersonating prominent individuals or organisations.

“There are ways to manipulate trending topics on X to make hashtags trend. Some accounts entice people by offering fake giveaways. Some impersonate prominent personalities or organisations,” she said.

Ajayi explained that some users participated in such campaigns in anticipation of promised rewards, while others were paid to publish content designed to increase the visibility of particular hashtags.

She warned that the tactics could be used to spread damaging allegations against political figures, particularly women, regardless of whether the claims were substantiated.

“The hashtags may contain defamatory allegations. For example, a hashtag might accuse a female politician of witchcraft or allege she stole someone’s husband. Once enough people post, it trends, creating the impression of widespread support,” she said.

Ajayi urged journalists to scrutinise trending topics before amplifying them, stressing that a hashtag’s popularity did not necessarily reflect genuine public sentiment.

“Is the trend authentic? Does it reflect genuine interest, or have people been paid to manipulate the algorithm?” she asked.

She said digital threats extended beyond fake news to include impersonation, coordinated manipulation of online conversations, cyberbullying, harassment and extortion.

According to her, journalists and citizens must understand how such tactics operate to avoid becoming unwitting participants in campaigns designed to mislead the public or damage individuals’ reputations.

Ajayi also raised concerns about content moderation on global digital platforms, particularly when moderators lacked sufficient knowledge of Nigerian languages, expressions and cultural contexts.

She cited the expression “cut your hand,” which Nigerian motorists may use to mean turning the steering wheel, as an example of language that foreign moderators could misunderstand and wrongly classify as harmful content.

“Moderators who do not understand Nigerian languages and cultural contexts may misinterpret content,” she said.

She also cited the local derogatory expression “olosho,” warning that moderators unfamiliar with Nigerian usage might fail to recognise the offensive meaning of certain expressions or properly assess the context in which they were used.

Ajayi said the coalition was engaging digital platforms to improve their understanding of Nigerian English, local expressions and the country’s legal framework.

She noted that concerns about the composition and local understanding of moderation teams had increased following changes associated with Twitter’s ownership.

The DigiAfricaLab representative called for greater accountability from social media companies operating in Nigeria, urging them to maintain regular engagement with local stakeholders throughout the electoral cycle rather than wait until election campaigns reached their peak.

Also speaking, Gbemisola Adebowale of TechHer said online harassment had assumed increasingly disturbing dimensions, including the use of photographs of living persons to produce fake obituary posters.

She called for stronger legal protections for victims and more effective mechanisms to compel digital platforms to respond promptly to harmful content.

Adebowale said a coalition involving the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Paradigm Initiative, Hope Behind Bars and Yiaga Africa provided legal support to victims of online abuse.

She advocated a stronger legal framework, drawing lessons from measures used to address Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), to strengthen accountability and ensure that platforms responded more effectively to harmful online content.

Comparing the digital political environment ahead of the 2027 elections with that of the 2023 general elections, Adebowale said online political participation and the monetisation of engagement had increased.

“Some users can now earn money from engagement. This encourages provocative content. The more controversial a post, the more reactions,” she said.

She observed that online political activity ahead of the 2027 elections appeared less intense than during the corresponding period before the 2023 polls.

Adebowale suggested that the prospect of an incumbent president seeking a second term could partly explain the difference, although she warned that the growing financial incentives for online engagement could encourage more provocative content as campaigns progressed.

Ifiokobang Uko, Programmes Assistant at DigiCivic Initiative, stressed the need to educate Nigerians about their rights and the legal remedies available when their rights were violated online.

Uko said public awareness was essential to ensuring that victims of cyberbullying, impersonation and other forms of digital abuse knew how to seek assistance and pursue appropriate legal action.

Participants agreed that tackling digital threats ahead of the 2027 elections would require more than removing harmful content after it had circulated widely.

They called for stronger platform accountability, improved digital literacy, responsible journalism and sustained collaboration among civil society organisations, government agencies and technology companies to protect electoral discourse from coordinated manipulation.

The participants stressed that creating a safer digital environment would be critical to ensuring that Nigerians could participate in political debates and make electoral choices based on credible information rather than manufactured trends, intimidation or defamatory allegations.