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Report Claims That 18 Nation's Elections Were Impacted By Social Engineering Last Year (bbc.com)
sqorbit writes: Independent watchdog group Freedom House released a report that claims that 18 nation's elections were "hacked." Of the 65 countries that Freedom House monitors, 30 appear to be using social media in order to affect elections by attempting to control online discussions. The report covers fake news posts, paid online opinion writers and trolling tactics. Other items in the report speak to online censorship and VPN blocking that blocks information within countries to interfere with elections. The report says net freedom could be aided by: large-scale programs that showed people how to spot fake news; putting tight controls on political adverts; and making social media giants do more to remove bots and tune algorithms to be more objective.
Only 18? I thought that ALL elections were subject to "Social Engineering".
That's part of the point.
Elections aren't about being fair. They're about preventing civil war.
They do this by predicting how a civil war to reverse their decision would come out - believably enough to convince the losers of the election that they'd also lose the war to reverse their results.
Propaganda and other "fake news", to recruit and radicalize cannon-fodder for the civil ware are integral to the process. The election process SHOULD include them - or it becomes less believable and thus less stabilizing.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
So......there were only elections in 18 countries last year? Is that it?
Seriously, the only reason Trump is president is because he was better at social engineering than Clinton. And I have to hand it to Obama, he pushed that "Hope and Change" meme better than anyone before him ever has. It's all been done before, though.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Aren't elections, in general, nothing more but a huge social engineering scheme at scale ?
Look at Canada's Trudeau winning the election on a 10 billions deficit and featuring a 30 billions one in his first budget ? Or is it just "social engineering" when the "wrong side" wins ?
It doesnâ(TM)t matter. We arenâ(TM)t allowed to question why someone votes a particular way, and free speech allows everyone to say whatever they want. It sucks that some use this to subvert some people's vote, but thats the price we pay for both free speech and open and free elections.
Not only that, they used social engineering to cause the /. editors to forget how to write a plural possessive.
Nations', not nation's.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
...because the politicians aren't behind it. The rest of the time its just called a campaign.
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So basically nothing different than the first 2000 years of democracy, but patentable because you put an e- in front of it.
No, son, this report is 100% about conditioning the populous for censorship, not protecting democracy.
"We arent allowed to question why someone votes a particular way" - Yes, we are. That doesn't touch the question of allowing known-and-provably-fraudulent news stories from propaganda sources.
"It sucks that some use this to subvert some people's vote" = You are now apologizing for that directly. I reject that we have to allow fraudulent activity because "My interpretation of freedum sez"
So why are incumbent Republicans losing elections now to trans women and lesbians?
Here's a free clue: People are sick of politics as usual and have been for a long time, and so are willing to vote for anything that looks like an outsider who looks like they might have a chance. Which side of politics they come from is irrelevant. That's why they voted for Obama over Hillary, that's why they would have voted for Sanders if he'd been up against an establishment Republican, and that's why they voted for Trump who ran against an establishment Democrat.
Of course now, people are realising that Trump is a shyster who played the greatest confidence trick in American political history. This plan sometimes backfires.
You're a perfect example of a conservative: Primitive. Tribal. Individualistic.
You want liberals to grow up ? Who acted like fucking 15 year-olds during the last election ? Electing a clown as their fucking president, endangering your country, the whole world, the future of your children and grandchildren, all that just to piss off liberals, like fucking teenagers committing armed robery just to piss off their parents. You're the ones who need to grow the fuck up.
Or rather, you need to EVOLVE. The rest of the civilized world is trying to evolve beyond simple animalistic darwinism, while you conservatives cling desperately to your old individualistic, primitive, savage ways. Life on earth has evolved beyond single-celled to multicellular organisms. Now humanity is also evolving from individualistic to communal society. And there's nothing you can do about. The dinosaurs' time is over. YOUR time is over.
Jesus fucking Christ. This is all suddenly new? No, it's fucking not. Trump didn't get elected because Russia "hacked" an election you fucking idiot.
And it wasn't 18 nations. It's every nation, all of them, every time, ever since the first nation was invented.
You know how to stop it? You don't. It will never stop. The only way to counter it is a well educated, independently and critically thinking population.
Give great speeches that people in different parts of the USA want to listen to.
Ensure that every state is included in visits by a charming politician who can give a long speech.
Find a candidate who can keep talking for a long time.
"Fake news" and "social media" cannot actually make a politician not show up in person all over the different parts of the USA and give a good speech.
People all over the USA remember who they went to see in person and their ability to give a great speech.
Dont lecture people in different states from the elite coast. All the other states can sway that US election so be more aware of local issues all around the USA.
Dont speak of people all over the USA in a negative way. You need their vote and voters do remember all the negative words used to describe their nice parts of the USA.
Try been positive about each part of the USA and just listen to their needs.
Dont stay on the elite east and west coast giving short lectures to the rest of the USA.
Talk about jobs, freedom and wealth. Real people want real ideas about good jobs, education, housing, not more negative lectures on elite issues.
A really great candidate can get out the vote all over the USA. Staying on elite coast talking points did not win an election.
Election observers from different political parties ensured no federal level "hacking" could happen.
Each city, state, town voted for a person they wanted elected.
The vote got counted and the results showed who the US states wanted elected.
Other nations did not bus out millions of their embassy staff to vote in person all over the USA. The FBI would have noticed a few extra million embassy staff in the USA at that time.
Other nations did not vote in the millions all over the USA. Other nations did not "hack" the computer vote as US elections do not get all counted digitally by one national computer.
The votes get counted and the count is observed locally all over the USA.
Real people all over different parts of the USA selected the person they wanted.
If a political party wants their vote, fly out to their state and talk to lots of people in person.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Does anyone actually believe that local churches don't interfere in elections as well as thousands of commercial organizations? I am certain that the US does a great deal to influence the results of foreign elections as well . Look at lunatic groups like the Tea Party that devote themselves to do nothing but influence elections. Sure, you can bet that if Russia feels that a certain outcome in the US will be better for Russia that great efforts will be made. Our best answer is a much higher level of education for all of our youth. Right now we have a general public that is infested with all kinds of garbage that they believe to be the truth. I fear that if the general public starts to catch on to what is going on around them that all hell will break out and our nation and society might completely melt down. Look at the immoral vampires that now occupy the White House. They want to suck the life blood out of our nation and contribute nothing at all. An entire year has passed and the supposedly important wall is not being built at all. Congress and the Senate are doing nothing good for America or our people.
"USA does NOT have free and fair elections, the people voted against Trump by millions and millions of votes and he got the Whitehouse anyway."
Stopped reading comment here. Learn how our election works or STFU about it.
You know how to stop it? You don't. It will never stop. The only way to counter it is a well educated, independently and critically thinking population.
Well said and very true, however we'll never reach this state because an easily manipulated population is exactly what those in power want, they just want the exclusive ability to manipulate.
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You're forgetting, though, that the number of electoral votes per voting block is not proportional to the size of the block. Each state gets a minimum of 3 electoral votes, no matter how small the state. So the states with greater population have more potential voters per electoral vote, and the states with less population have fewer per electoral vote. The ratio of how much votes count can be almost 4 to 1, depending on population and voter turnout of the states being compared.
That bias may be based in the history of the country being composed of separate states that had to compromise with each other in order to agree to come together, but it still isn't fair to the voters in my state.