Category: digital democracy

Online techniques & social media business model distorting democratic process

     

The business model of social media makes the algorithmic amplification of messages like hate speech and disinformation a lucrative proposition and a destabilizing force in a democratic society, the International… Read more »

Mapping digital disinformation

     

If digital platforms are the “new battleground” for democracy, as the new  2019 “Freedom on the Net” report from Freedom House suggests, the experience of Pakistan demonstrates the challenges of… Read more »

‘Trojan horse for tyranny’: Disinformation boosting digital authoritarianism

     

Digital platforms have emerged as the “new battleground” for democracy, with disinformation the most commonly used tactic to undermine elections, according to a leading watchdog. “Populists and far-right leaders have… Read more »

Online disinformation: Finding the digital silver bullet

     

Facebook is one of the main reasons democracy is in such peril. The company’s algorithms favor the echo chamber, backing a user’s bias. That black hole is so full of… Read more »

Democracies ill-equipped to counter info warfare in ‘Age of Durable Disorder’

     

A coordinated cyberespionage campaign using phishing to harvest passwords from mobile phones and computers has targeted U.N. relief agencies, the International Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations groups for the… Read more »

AI, big data and democracy’s future: Misinformation, echo chambers & targeted propaganda?

     

While digital transformation has enriched societal discourse, it has also led to an increase of “misinformation, echo chambers and targeted propaganda” and provided authoritarian states with new means of surveillance… Read more »

‘Tsunami Democràtic’: Emerging risk of virtual societal warfare

     

Virtual societal warfare is a new category of cyberaggression that seeks to manipulate or disrupt the information essential for the effective functioning of economic and social systems, RAND researchers Michael… Read more »

Social media ‘weaponized’: Collective action needed to halt ‘abuse and deception’ of democratic process

     

Should we accept that the current social media model is incompatible with a healthy democracy? Social media has changed the nature of democratic conversation, argues Andrew Marantz [@andrewmarantz], author of… Read more »

Targeted: How social media is breaking democracy

     

Russian government-backed cyber aggression is heightening concerns from the west following a spate of high-profile incidents, prompting threats of countermeasures from the likes of Nato, the EU and UK, the… Read more »