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.

Comments

Politics itself is social engineering

[Anonymous Coward]

you're all idiots.

slashdot = stagnated

Re:Grow up, liberals

[Gussington]

You lost because people are sick and tired of your excessive political correctness. Stop whining and quit trying to force your unwanted social programs down everyone's throats. You lost because you are out of touch with what the people want and need. Grow up, liberals, and get over yourself.

Thank you for your divisive comments comrade. You've earned your Rubles for today...

Re: What free speech? What free and fair election

[guruevi]

The system in the US is set up around communities of people. The vast majority of communities (typically farming and blue collar communities) in the US votes republican.

If it were a popular vote, we would only have protections for apple, orange and avocado farmers because those are what comprises California and New York.

The system in the US works around equal protection from mob rule. It also protects against anyone stealing the vote in any particular region or certain regions being locally corrupted, if certain counties in Texas reports millions of extra voters because they allow illegal immigrants to vote or simply pay Mexicans to come across the border to vote, you donâ(TM)t want that to be influencing the vote across the nation.