Watchdog: Disinformation, surveillance seen as growing threats to democracy

The report said disinformation was rampant in the US, focusing on the November 2018 midterm elections, and that 'both domestic and foreign actors manipulated content for political purposes, undermining the democratic process and stoking divisions in American society'. — Bloomberg

WASHINGTON: Governments around the world are increasingly using social media to manipulate elections and monitor their citizens, in a worrisome trend for democracy, a human rights watchdog said Nov 5.

An annual report on online freedom by the nonprofit group Freedom House found evidence of "advanced social media surveillance programmes" in at least 40 of 65 countries analysed.