Freedom House issued its annual report on “Freedom on the Net 201: The Crisis of the Social Media” Tuesday, warning that social media is an increasingly precarious tool for mass surveillance and manipulation of elections.
The report reveals that free speech and privacy on the Internet declined globally for the ninth consecutive year.
There are two major reasons for the decline which are presented in this report: increased online election interference by governments and far-right extremities and augmented government surveillance, both of them are rapidly spreading on social media platforms. These are the topics that continue to dominate the news cycle. In some cases, a few governments restricted access to specific apps and platforms used by the opposition to mobilize or resorted to shutting down the internet altogether.
In the past and even now in many instances, social media platforms have played a critical role in mobilization, empowerment, shaping of opinions and influencing people’s behavior in a positive way. For instance, the Arab Spring movement was a movement of young individuals who used technology against their oppressors in order to stand up against authoritarian regimes. By utilizing social media tools, they were able to spread their message not only among themselves, but to people all over the world. However, unfortunately these days such platforms are being used to create unrest among ordinary individuals. Dissemination of fake news has become prevalent these days; various social media platforms make it easier to circulate false news in a glimpse of eye.
The Freedom House report explains, “In addition to facilitating the dissemination of propaganda and disinformation during election periods, social media platforms have enabled the collection and analysis of vast amounts of data on entire population. It also added that the future of internet freedom rests on our ability to fix social media.”
The report assessed 65 countries over the past year, in a record 47 countries, law enforcement arrested people for posting political, social, or religious speech online. 40 countries advanced social media surveillance programs and in 38 countries, political leaders employed individuals to shape online opinions.
Election interference is spreading, and the government and social media companies are not doing enough to stop it. Internet in the US is relatively free, but still Russia allegedly interfered in the 2016 US presidential election. Since then, Facebook and other social media companies have promised to increase transparency around government data requests.
The Freedom on the Net report indicates that these companies’ efforts have not been truly effective. It also shows that the proliferation of new technologies like advanced biometrics, artificial intelligence, and 5G mobile network will likely make the situation worse.
Image Freedom House
Source: https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/11/5/20947419/internet-freedom-report-2019-social-media-election-interference-surveillance
Freedom House president Mike Abramowitz said in a press statement, “Authoritarians and populists around the globe are exploiting both human nature and computer algorithms to conquer the ballot box, running roughshod over rules designed to ensure free and fair elections.”
The report made the following recommendations for policymakers in the US and around the world:
⦁ Improve transparency and oversight of online political advertisement.
⦁ Address the use of bots in social media manipulation.
⦁ Protect elections from cyberattacks with paper ballots and elections audits.
Another big threat to internet freedom is social media surveillance by the authoritative regimes. Digital surveillance, which benefits from processes like machine learning, vastly increase the scope of and capabilities of government surveillance and risk of abuse. The 40 countries in the study that have instated advance social media surveillance programs are home to 89 percent of internet users, or nearly 3 billion people. China is the leader in developing, employing and exporting social media surveillance.
Image Source: Freedom House
Out of 15 countries in Asia assessed by the report, 13 have social media surveillance programs under development or in use. Pakistan in February 2019 announced a new social media monitoring program meant to combat extremism, hate speech and anti-national content.
The people of Pakistan know very little about government’s attempts and/or initiatives underway for social media regulation and policing which makes them vulnerable and puts them at risk for loosing their digital freedom.
Within the United States, the Department of Homeland Security, which includes Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Citizenship and immigration Services (CIS), and Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), also uses social media surveillance, according to the report.
The report presents a few suggestions which can be helpful for governments to rein in troubling expansion of digital surveillance.
⦁ Enact strong data privacy laws (GDPR and CCPA are good examples in this regard).
⦁ Restrict the export of sophisticated monitoring tools.
⦁ Strictly regulate the use of social media surveillance tools.
⦁ Grant users control over their information and endure that it is not being misused.
The upcoming 2020 election will be a challenge for the U.S. government agencies and Social Media companies whether they have addressed all the issues which surfaced during 2016 election.
