From small pox in 1893 to the 1904 “Durban Plague” to the 1918 Spanish Flu to Covid-19 in 2020, South Africa has faced many scary viruses. Professor Philip Harrison, the South African research chair in spatial analysis and city planning at Wits’ Gauteng Regional City Observatory has done extensive research on past pandemics and believes […]
What can we learn from the pandemics of the past? Read More »
In an era of post-truth “alternative facts”, smoke and mirrors tactics have become the new currency of political gamesmanship Read full article
State capture: Mpofu and the bid to bamboozle the public Read More »
Anti-foreigner hashtags continue to swirl around local Twitter, together with misleading claims and links to fake news sites. Don’t be fooled, warns a UCT research unit. Read full article
#FakeNews and lies are amplified on social media Read More »
The key threat to democracy today is not ideological, in the sense that opposing or alternative ideologies threaten to replace democracy. Rather, it is how the politics of the base can be exploited to undermine democratic processes and institutions, and skew democratic outcomes. Read full article
This is a summary of the trending, highest impact and most active themes and their narratives related to social cohesion and division in South African public-domain social media conversations for the week ending 19 November 2020. This is a summary of the trending, highest impact and most active themes and their narratives related to social
Peak of the week: South Africa’s weekly trends: November 12 – 19 Read More »
A crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic creates a perfect opportunity for those who wish to cause confusion, chaos, and public harm – and mis- and disinformation enables them to do just that. This week we look at elections and the actions of Real411. Read full article
Disinformation in a time of Covid-19: Weekly trends in South Africa Read More »
This is a summary of the trending, highest impact, and most active themes and narratives related to social cohesion and division in South African public-domain social media conversations for the week ending on 5 November 2020. Read full article
PEAK OF THE WEEK: South Africa’s weekly trends report to 5 November 2020 Read More »
A social media movement using the tag #PutSouthAfricansFirst has been found to peddle malicious, divisive untruths about human trafficking that have the potential to incite xenophobia. Read full article
#PutSouthAfricansFirst peddling malicious, divisive untruths about human trafficking Read More »
Real411 is affiliated to Media Monitoring Africa and enables the public to report disinformation, hate speech, incitement to violence and harassment of the media. This article outlines Real411’s findings and what constitutes hate speech. It’s important to report posts and tweets on social media that sow seeds of division and create resentment, anger and hatred
#putsouthafricansfirst: Spreading hate speech, inciting violence, breaking the law Read More »
Week 19: Public officials, the media and disinformation — fire starters or fire extinguishers? Read full article
Disinformation in a time of Covid-19: Weekly trends in SA Read More »
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