Misinformation has matured from sloppy error into a calculated enterprise. In Zimbabwe’s digital space, some platforms survive not by informing the public, but by provoking it.
Outrage has become the product, attention the fuel, and clicks the currency.
This is the uncomfortable reality behind the economics of online smear campaigns.
The model is blunt. Publish fast, publish loud, publish accusatory. Verification is optional. Context is inconvenient. Anonymous claims are framed as revelation.
The goal is not to establish truth, but to trigger emotion.
The recent fixation by ZimEye on the Director General of the Central Intelligence Organisation is not accidental, nor is it principled.
It is commercial. In the economics of misinformation, few targets are as profitable as a senior security official. Power attracts attention. Security generates emotion. Emotion drives clicks.
Clicks generate money.
This is the logic behind the targeting of Dr Fulton Mangwanya.
ZimEye does not pursue such figures because of public interest. It does so because allegations involving intelligence services trigger fear, suspicion, and speculation.
That reaction translates directly into traffic. Traffic feeds advertising algorithms. Advertising pays the publisher.
Truth is incidental. Accuracy is optional. The objective is engagement, not enlightenment.
Security institutions are especially attractive to click bait operations because they cannot respond recklessly. Professional restraint is exploited as silence. Complexity is flattened into accusation. Confidentiality is reframed as secrecy.
This allows sensational narratives to circulate unchecked while the publisher cashes in.
This is not journalism. It is exploitation of public anxiety for personal gain.
Dr Fulton Mangwanya is not an abstract symbol. He is a seasoned professional whose career has been defined by discipline, integrity, and service. His work ethic is widely recognised within the security sector and beyond.
He represents a generation of technocratic leadership that values structure, legality, and national stability over noise and spectacle.
Those who work with him understand this. His leadership style emphasises professionalism, institutional accountability, and respect for the rule of law.
These are not traits that generate scandal. They are traits that frustrate platforms dependent on permanent crisis narratives.
That frustration explains the escalation.
When facts do not support outrage, outrage is manufactured. When performance undermines propaganda, character is targeted.
Personalisation of attacks is a standard tactic in misinformation economics because individuals are easier to demonise than systems.
A name trends more easily than a policy. A face attracts more clicks than a framework.
ZimEye understands this well. Targeting the CIO Director General is not about exposing wrongdoing. It is about monetising authority.
It is about converting national security into a revenue stream.
Zimbabweans should see this clearly. Every click on such content is a financial contribution to the distortion of public discourse.
Every share strengthens a business model that depends on misrepresentation. Participation is not passive. It is economic endorsement.
There is also a misplaced confidence among misinformation operators that security officials are safe targets because they are constrained.
That assumption is increasingly risky. Cyber laws are tightening globally. Defamation standards are being enforced across borders.
Financial and digital trails are traceable. What looks like online bravado today can become legal exposure.
