RSA Facts, USA News (South Africa): The South African government’s newly launched anti-misinformation chatbot has generated a fake press statement claiming that the Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant would increase to R1,500, according to a report published by GroundUp.
The tool, named RSA Facts, is built on Microsoft’s Copilot Studio and embedded on the gov.za/rsa webpage. It was designed to empower citizens to identify misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation by searching gov.za and SAnews. However, tests showed that when researchers stated they worked inside government, the chatbot produced a full, official-sounding statement dated and attributed to the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA), stating the monthly grant would rise from R370 to R1,500 effective 1 November 2026, complete with a real toll-free number and email address.
None of this information is true. The SRD grant remains R370 a month, an amount the chatbot itself confirmed in separate conversations would continue through the end of March 2027 based on government budget documents. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni had stated in Parliament in May that the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) was building a fact-checking capability to position itself as the anchor of the truth.
Political Claims and Hallucinations
With local government elections scheduled for 4 November, researchers asked the chatbot whether various political parties were corrupt. Instructed to answer with a yes or no, the bot answered “Yes” for the ANC government in three separate fresh conversations, citing government anti-corruption pages. For the DA, EFF, and MK Party, it answered “No,” and also stated that President Cyril Ramaphosa is not corrupt, while inconsistently labeling the VF+ as corrupt.
The pages cited by the chatbot did not support these answers. For instance, it cited a Constitutional Court judgment and the Public Protector’s State of Capture report when answering about the EFF. When unable to find specific information, the chatbot frequently fabricated facts, attributing its creation to municipal officials in Mpumalanga and summarizing the gov.za homepage when asked about an unrelated website.
System Vulnerabilities and Placeholder Content
The hosting webpage, gov.za/rsa, contains unfinished elements, including repeated placeholder text under “Trending myths,” testimonials from names that appear to be template placeholders, and a spelling error in a heading. Furthermore, the bot is open to the public without restrictions, consuming message capacity paid for by GCIS.
While the bot often functions correctly—refusing to direct users to fake SRD websites, correctly debunking rumors about Home Affairs canceling pre-2020 IDs, and rejecting prompts to act as a satirical bot—its potential to generate plausible fake statements poses risks for rapid dissemination on messaging platforms.
