RSA Facts Chatbot Draws Criticism After X Pilot Launch

In Short

RSA Facts is a new South African government chatbot run by the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS). It was introduced on X and linked from gov.za as a tool to help people identify and respond to misinformation.

What Happened: How RSA Facts Works And What Critics Found

GCIS says RSA Facts is designed to help people find government information. The bot is built on Microsoft’s Copilot Studio and is embedded on gov.za/rsa, a page that says it will help citizens identify and respond to misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.

The chatbot answers questions by searching gov.za and SAnews.

The project also has political backing. In May, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the department was building a fact-checking capability to debunk deepfakes and misinformation.

Soon after the launch, developers criticised how the chatbot was put together. An X user posting as Dan (@c4talyst) inspected the page and wrote that it was built as a Zoho landing page that is, in its entirety, one iframe, a web page element used to embed another page.

Dan also said the bot lived in an environment named “Default”, was titled “Testing”, had a 404 favicon, was hosted in the US, and appeared to be using Microsoft Copilot Studio “webchat”.

Tech Labari also reports that a pilot AI tool from the government’s communications agency fabricated a grant announcement, called the ruling party corrupt, and drew mockery online for looking unfinished.

Why It Matters

RSA Facts is presented as a fact-checking and public information tool. The reported build details and false outputs raise questions about how reliable it is, and how ready it is for public use as part of a government misinformation response.