Social media manipulation a growing threat to democracies: Oxford study

Social media manipulation of public opinion is a growing threat to democracies around the world, according to the 2020 media manipulation survey from a University of Oxford institute, which found evidence in each of the 81 countries surveyed, including India.

The number of countries with evidence of organised social media manipulation campaigns was up 15% in one year, from 70 countries in 2019, the report by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) released on Wednesday said.

Governments, public relations firms and political parties are producing misinformation on an industrial scale, the report says, adding that disinformation has become a common strategy, with more than 93% of the countries (76 out of 81) seeing disinformation deployed as part of political communication.