The fight against racism has become topical on social media in the the first ten days of the new year in South Africa. A number of people have been taken to task with the aid of social media for racially prejudiced comments posted on platforms including Twitter and Facebook. The effective use of hashtags to expose and punish instances of racist expression on social media serves as credit to the different social media platforms according to Digital Marketing Strategist and Treeshake CEO Dave Duarte.

"Social Media is a highly effective platform for the fight against racism. That said, when it comes to platforms like Twitter, it is quite easy to misunderstand each other due to the brevity of the format. The result can be polarising, which I think can aggravate racial tension in the short term. That said, it is clearly accelerating the conversations we need to have as a society and so is ultimately very productive," says Duarte.

The past week saw a famed economist suspended, a realtor shamed and a controversial reality show judge fired amongst others in what Duarte believes has been the result of clever ways of organising on social media.

"I think that what the past week has shown us is that the court of public opinion - often derided as slacktivism or clicktivism - can be highly effective. When people come together around a topic of shared interest, they can influence change. It makes me wonder what else people will do with this emerging form of power. How will we shape our society? We must, however, be on-guard against the base forms of human nature and mob justice though. I believe this is a sign for leaders from all sectors of society to engage wholeheartedly with social media. South Africa is a young country with a young population, and social media of all kinds - including private channels like WhatsApp - are the easiest and most effective way to organise for change."

The essentiality of the hashtag

The #RacismMustFall hashtag was used by many to express disapproval of the racism witnessed on social media, and, as other hashtags gain momentum - like the university student's #FeesMustFall hashtag, Duarte highlighted the importance of the tool.

"Hashtags are an incredible way to organise content around an issue of shared interest. A similar way to organise a movement like this is with things like Facebook and WhatsApp groups, but the benefit of a hashtag is that no-one owns it, it can live on multiple media channels and platforms, and no-one can shut it down. The best hashtags, then, are ones that people agree upon, they are memorable and catchy, and of-course, they are unique. It is not just semantics though, the likelihood of a hashtag being adopted is also subject to how influential and connected the users of the hashtag are - the more influential and closely related they are in a network, the more velocity the hashtag will have, as shown by Kristina Lerman and pals at the University of Southern California"

Duarte believes that while this new urgency is positive, racist sentiment has been expressed online and has gone unchecked for years in South Africa. "The comment sections of all our major media have been filled with racist drivel and vitriol for years, and the turn of 2016 has shown a lot of these people that the internet is no longer a safe space to express these kinds of opinions."

Lasting consequences

The summary dismissal of a Cape Town based advertising and recruitment agency employee

and the suspension of a television news presenter following an uproar on social media demonstrated the seriousness of racist conduct.

Muzi Khoza, a senior associate at law firm ENSafrica's employment department says although there was nothing new in terms of the law and legal consequences following recent controversies the consequences are wide ranging.

"Having a bad disciplinary record, including a dismissal record, invariably reflects badly on employees, even with prospective employers. As the recent controversy has shown, an employer's reputation and goodwill do take a knock as a result of the conduct of employees. Most employers would be reluctant to be associated with any employee that is likely to have an negative impact on their reputation and goodwill. Prospective employees are obliged to disclose any fact that may have an influence on the employer making a decision whether or not to employ them. The fact that one was previously dismissed for making racist comments would, in our view, be relevant and should be disclosed."

Khoza also cautioned others against sharing racist content on the web even if they are not necessarily the creators of such content.

"Such conduct would at the very least be enough evidence that the employee in question associates themselves with the content of such tweet or post. Retweeting could probably be considered to be the same as tweeting as an original tweet and would attract the same consequences. All cases however have to be considered in light of their unique facts."