Working for democracy

Periodic Report 5

Our researchers focused on three thematic areas; namely the ANC Elective Conference, the Constitution, and Corruption. A significant part of the conversation revealed that social media users have an acute awareness of a faltering social contract in South Africa. Furthermore, after identifying some narrative manipulation, there is a clear trend of vested interests polarising and …

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Online discussions over Phala Phala theft were manipulated, report finds.

The CABC investigation analysed patterns of online engagements on social media platforms between June 1, 2022 and September 15, 2022. The report found that some of the Twitter accounts involved were also encountered by the CABC when investigating the July 2021 unrest. This “network”, the organisation said, is focused on manufacturing online dissent as well as …

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#PhalaPhalaFarmGate: Manufacturing dissent

This report is a deep dive into the sustained prominence of #PhalaPhalaFarmGate within South Africa’s online democracy conversation. For the past 14 weeks, #PhalaPhalaFarmGate has been a top 10 trending hashtag within this conversation. Findings of this report over the period include #PhalaPhalaFarmGate being responsible for sustained anti-Ramaphosa sentiment since the beginning of June 2022 …

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Periodic Report

This report forms part of a series of biweekly reports that track and summarise the key current narratives within South Africa’s online democracy conversation. This report’s date range is between 1 August and 18 August 2022. The most popular theme identified over the period includes sustained negative sentiment towards President Cyril Ramaphosa as evidenced by …

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The role of mis and disinformation in the media and its effects on democracy

Listen to the new episode of the Pulse as we interview Chris Roper the deputy CEO for the continent’s largest federation of civic technology and data journalism labs, Code for Africa (CfA). Chris also serves as director for CfA’s forensic data initiative, the African Network of Centres for Investigative Reporting (ANCIR). From 2015 – 2019, …

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Periodic report

This report forms part of a series of biweekly reports that track and summarise the key current narratives within South Africa’s online democracy conversation. This report’s date range is between 11 July and 31 July 2022. The main themes identified over the period include sustained negative sentiment towards President Cyril Ramaphosa as evidenced by #cyrilmustresign …

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A game to fight misinformation: How fun can help you tell fact from fiction

Do you ever feel like you can’t trust what you read online? You’re not alone. In today’s digital age, it’s more important than ever to be able to tell fact from fiction. That’s where “You Vs the Internet”, a game built by Digital Public Square (DPS) in partnership with Code for Africa, the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural …

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