#SocialMedia being used to manipulate public opinion in more than 70 countries says New report from Oxford Internet Institute

"social networking technologies – algorithms, automation and big data – vastly changes the scale, scope, and precision of how [mis]information is transmitted in the digital age."

• Organized social media manipulation has more than doubled since 2017
•  70 countries using computational propaganda to manipulate public opinion.
• In 45 democracies, politicians and political parties have used computational propaganda tools by amassing fake followers or spreading manipulated media to garner voter support.
• In 26 authoritarian states, government entities have used computational propaganda as a tool of information control to suppress public opinion and press freedom, discredit criticism and oppositional voices, and drown out political dissent.
• Foreign influence operations, primarily over Facebook and Twitter, have been attributed to cyber troop activities in seven countries: China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

"The manipulation of public opinion over social media remains a critical threat to democracy, as computational propaganda becomes a pervasive part of everyday life. Government agencies and political parties around the world are using social media to spread disinformation and other forms of manipulated media. Although propaganda has always been a part of politics, the wide-ranging scope of these campaigns raises critical concerns for modern democracy."

Read the excerpt for the report, 'The Global Disinformation Order: 2019 Global Inventory of Organised Social Media Manipulation', here: https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/releases/use-of-social-media-to-manipulate-public-opinion-now-a-global-problem-says-new-report/

Download the Full Report here.