WiSER’s Trust Project invites you to an online panel discussion:

Techbros and Big Daddies

 While Afriforum, Solidarity, and any number of other right-wing organisations make their way to Washington to seek an audience with Trump, social media has provided an equally - or perhaps more - powerful platform from which South Africans are appealing for US intervention into national affairs. Not only can those claiming white genocide tag Elon Musk or alert MAGA supporters to the X accounts of their critics, but social media has allowed for the development of more nebulous networks of influence across the Atlantic Ocean, and even further beyond. Building on our previous discussion about the South African origins of the PayPal mafia, in this conversation our panellists consider how the tools of the internet, and social media in particular, are shaping the peculiar unfolding of the South Africa-United States’ relationship.  

Speakers: Nicky Falkof, Nkululeko Sibiya, Hlonipha Mokoena, Kyle Findlay
Chair: Iginio Gagliardone

Thursday, 8th May 2025 6pm (Johannesburg time)