Thirty Countries Use 'Armies of Opinion Shapers' To Manipulate Democracy (theguardian.com)

The governments of 30 countries around the globe are using armies of so called opinion shapers to meddle in elections, advance anti-democratic agendas and repress their citizens, a new report shows. From a report on The Guardian: Unlike widely reported Russian attempts to influence foreign elections, most of the offending countries use the internet to manipulate opinion domestically, says US NGO Freedom House. "Manipulation and disinformation tactics played an important role in elections in at least 17 other countries over the past year, damaging citizens' ability to choose their leaders based on factual news and authentic debate," the US government-funded charity said. "Although some governments sought to support their interests and expand their influence abroad, as with Russia's disinformation campaigns in the United States and Europe, in most cases they used these methods inside their own borders to maintain their hold on power."

Comments

Everything old is new again

[rsilvergun]

back in my day we just called it propaganda. Folks do know the US Government does this every time we go to war, right? We did it before Iraq and we're starting to do it for North Korea.

Re:Everything old is new again

[AlanBDee]

So, what you're saying is they any person who disagrees with me is a Russian agent. Got it.

Maybe this coming out will help the general population adapt actual critical thinking skills.

We already distrust the others.

[jellomizer]

So it is an easy push to villify them.
Those godless Democrats are trying to push an atheist addenda source with those few people who happen to be democrats and push an atheist adgenda.

Those idiot republicans who are trying to bring the country back a century. Reference by those few people pushing a racist agenda who have red trump hats.

If you are on the side of the Democrats you may be a god fearing individual and you realize that these people are not representative of you but a subset group.

If you are a Republican however you are very inclusive and tolerant, you see the racist as not representative of you and the republicans on whole.

We see the news headlines liberals/conservatives are doing something you don’t like. Not a subset of the group is doing something you don’t like. So it just reinforces tribalism tendencies that we have and bypass common sense and you make sure those other guys don’t get power, because they are far more dangerous then your side is.