In Middle East, poor miss out as 'faulty' algorithms target aid

Called Proxy Means Testing (PMT), the software considers factors such as family size, address, and ownership of livestock or cars, but the full details of the metrics have not been disclosed in the countries where it is being used. — Image by pressfoto on Freepik

BEIRUT/CAIRO: Asma Ibrahim, an unemployed woman who lives in a cramped shack in northern Lebanon, has no idea why she was refused a welfare benefit for the country's poorest people - money that would prevent her five children from going to bed hungry.

"People in need are not receiving anything," she said by phone from the deprived Akkar region, adding that she had been calling a government hotline twice a week to ask why she was turned down after applying more than a year ago.