Chris Roper

@Poplak @88KOS Finally, a use for a Stanley cup.

Trump is gassing idiot populism so hard he’ll likely usher in two centuries of staid grey technocracy in which three AI dorks run the planet and we get all our nutrients from a daily slurpee.

Anyone under the age of 25 must wonder why the international sign for "Can I pay, please?" to waiters in bars & restaurants across the world involves scribbling a signature in the air in front of your face.

DEADLINE ALERT: Journalists and fact-checkers across Southern Africa still time to apply for stipend-based fellowships from @Code4Africa through its African Fact-checking Alliance. 🗓 Deadline: 10 April. Details: shorturl.at/ns12Y

@ChrisRoper: Party animal of the people The Zille message is that rather than fulminating about a better future for all, she’s living in the present and getting stuff done. financialmail.businessday.co.za/features/2026-…

🇰🇪 As our digital space grows, so do the risks. Our latest #TrustLabKE report examines trends in policy violations across socials in Kenya. Partners presented findings at our last National Briefing. 🔗 Insights from the dialogue: cfa.fyi/qXWVhup

Some more Gil Scott Heron wisdom:

I spent HOURS conducting these trainings during my time at @DFRLab, and a lot of time and effort goes into running thr Digital Sherlocks. If you're interested in learning about Open Source Investigations from people who are knowledgeable and passionate...sign up!

𝗗𝗨𝗥𝗕𝗔𝗡’𝗦 𝗗𝗢𝗖𝗞𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗗𝗜𝗩𝗔, 𝗡𝗢𝗪 𝗙𝗢𝗥𝗚𝗢𝗧𝗧𝗘𝗡 hermanlategan.substack.com/p/c8e

@LouisGq @RediTlhabi I don’t think there are categories. It’s anything investigative. What we need is more journalists to cover the vast number of stories out there.

@RediTlhabi @ChrisRoper Can there be a category for Investigative journalism for the rot at municipalities? Not just metro’s.

And here is the big reveal: Tonight, as part of NinetyOne's 35th anniversary. Founder and CEO just Hendrik Du Toit has just announced a R1 million prize for a a South African investigative journalist who does work that serves democracy. I'm honoured that this great Hendrik has asked me to serve as one of the judges.

Congratulations to our 2026 #TKAwards finalists!

@Poplak No problem agreeing to that.

@ChrisRoper Hands off the cycling shorts

I had some fun here looking at the way costume is weaponised in politics. And yes, it includes Alan Winde’s virtuous cycling shorts.

AI for good. It’s possible.

@skelmkeys on who has the power to decide what is real. “The machine has learned. It has eaten the textbooks, ingested the syllabi, processed the case law and diagnostic manuals and source code, and it is now capable of performing, at speed and without error, the codified knowledge that an entire generation of Black and brown families was told was the path to safety. Doctor. Lawyer. Engineer. Computer scientist. The credentialed. The ones who made it through the narrow door of a knowledge economy built by one civilisation to serve itself — always contingent, it turns out, on that civilisation’s continued authority to define what knowledge was.” open.substack.com/pub/nkhensanim…

@TamboerZA Unfortunately, AI slop has entered the equation. Not everyone can become a journalist, but anyone can pretend to be one.

@ChrisRoper The influence is very bad but the greed that caused it is equally frightning. Don't journalists get paid for writing articles? 42 articles. Are editors obsolete? Can anyone become a journalist this way?

@cathjenkin @DasenThathiah @AlsParamedics @eNCA That’s a lot of stupidity!

@ChrisRoper @DasenThathiah @AlsParamedics @eNCA Please? I will buy 7.

A man has been shot dead while allegedly trying to rob an SAPS member in Durban.  According to @AlsParamedics , the suspect, in his twenties, sustained a gunshot wound to the head. The scene on Botanic Gardens Road is still active.  @eNCA

@cathjenkin @DasenThathiah @AlsParamedics @eNCA I need to make t-shirts.

@DasenThathiah @AlsParamedics @eNCA He was trying to rob a policeman?! In KZN? Stupidity is its own reward, as @ChrisRoper taught me.

@zakareeee And this one. I wrote about her recent lecture on “fake news” at UCT. financialmail.businessday.co.za/opinion/2026-0…

oh it’s this paula slier