Watchdog: Surveillance, social media disinformation growing

Governments around the world are increasingly using social media to manipulate elections and monitor their citizens, in a worrisome trend for democracy, a human rights watchdog said on Tuesday.

An annual report on online freedom by the non-profit group Freedom House found evidence of “advanced social media surveillance programmes” in at least 40 of 65 countries analysed.

The report said global internet freedom declined for a ninth consecutive year, as authorities in some countries cut off internet access as part of their manipulation efforts, while others employed propaganda armies to distort information on social platforms. “Many governments are finding that on social media, propaganda works better than censorship,” said Mike Abramowitz, president of Freedom House.