In South Africa, few things stir public emotion more quickly than a major legal judgment or administrative policy change involving migration. When a court ruling is handed down or a new government directive is published, social media platforms fill within hours with passionate reactions, indignation, fear, and sometimes hope. To the casual observer, these digital outpourings can look like a spontaneous, organic groundswell of public sentiment—a nation speaking its mind in real time. But recent research by the non-profit organisation Tales of Turning suggests that the reality is far more layered. By tracking digital conversations across platforms such as X,…

Think about how much of our lives now unfold on social media. We scroll through news, opinions, jokes, warnings and urgent calls to share something before we have even checked whether it is true. During an election, this constant stream of information becomes more than just background noise. It becomes part of how democracy lives or dies. In South Africa, the Electoral Commission (IEC) has found itself at the centre of a digital information crisis. Misinformation and disinformation are not just annoying online glitches. They can threaten human rights and shake confidence in the institutions that make free and fair…