"This collaborative report between the Lokniti programme of the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung analyzes the growth of online social networking sites and apps in India and their role in shaping political preferences and attitudes in the recently concluded 20
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19 Lok Sabha elections. The report is divided into four sections and relies heavily on Lokniti’s survey data." (Executive summary)
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"This paper analyses the potential impact of social media on the conduct and outcome of elections both to strengthen political participation and knowledge sharing as well as the more harmful effects. It looks at the various harms particularly those relevant in the context of Latin America. It docume
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nts the more systematic approaches to election regulation of political parties and social media. It recommends adopting a hybrid system of co-regulation, where the regulator sets the outcomes but does not seek to impose detailed prescriptive requirements on companies (which would probably be beyond its technical expertise). While recognising the value of social media during an election as a way of empowering voters, it suggests the regulator develops a high-level code of practice for social media companies, to be drawn up in consultation with the companies themselves, the political parties and the wider public. The code of practice also should protect freedom of speech and the paper recommends that there be no attempt to impose controls on the consent of election communication which is protected under international human rights and free expression principles." (Executive summary)
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"Este manual busca ser una herramienta para que los(as) periodistas tengan mayor información acerca de sus derechos y de cómo pueden protegerlos antes, durante y después de los comicios. Asimismo, pretende dar a conocer diferentes temáticas relevantes en el ambiente electoral, como la Agenda 203
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0 y los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible – ODS, el cubrimiento con enfoque de género y las fuentes útiles para realizar un efectivo ejercicio periodístico." (Página 7)
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"Around the world, women frequently experience harassment and violence when they decide to exercise their civil and political rights. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have created new vehicles for violence against women in elections (VAWIE), including violence that takes place on so
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cial media and in private messaging. These forms of violence are compounded by the anonymity and scale that online media platforms provide. VAWIE-Online is a means to silence women who publicly engage in political life through fear, shame and intimidation. This violence is different from the online violence and harassment experienced by politically active men in its underlying intent, its multiplied impact, as well as its frequency, form, and content. The VAWIE-Online Social Media Analysis Tool (VAWIE-Online Tool) offers an adaptable method to measure the gendered aspects and understand the drivers of online election violence against women. The primary purpose of this tool is to identify trends and patterns of online violence around electoral periods. More specifically, the tool will allow users to identify the scope, breadth, and intensity of VAWIE-Online. Using artificial intelligence-based data analysis tools, the VAWIE-Online Tool quantifies and categorizes social media data to identify and distinguish forms of online violence. By incorporating this analysis of online violence into broader analysis of gender in elections, electoral stakeholders can better understand this issue in their respective countries and can begin to address it through their work. This guide is intended for use by civil society organizations (CSOs), election and human rights monitors and observers, and other activist and research groups seeking to analyze online violence against women in elections. It is constructed as a step-by-step tool to introduce users to social media analysis, specifically data mining and sentiment analysis. Although this tool is written to provide an introduction and overview for general users, data mining and sentiment analysis are sophisticated research approaches and users of this guide will find it helpful to work with a team that has experience in data analytics and a background in working on gender-based violence (GBV) and electoral politics." (Page 2)
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"Drawing on over a dozen new empirical case studies – from Kenya to Somalia, South Africa to Tanzania – this collection explores how rapidly growing social media use is reshaping political engagement in Africa. But while social media has often been hailed as a liberating tool, the book demonstra
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tes how it has often served to reinforce existing power dynamics, rather than challenge them. Featuring experts from a range of disciplines from across the continent, this collection is the first comprehensive overview of social media and politics in Africa. By examining the historical, political, and social context in which these media platforms are used, the book reveals the profound effects of cyber-activism, cyber-crime, state policing and surveillance on political participation." (Publisher description)
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"Kenya has experienced a cycle of political violence following a series of controversial elections that have centred on ethnic competition, leading to human rights abuses, deaths, destruction of property and a downward economic spiral. At the core of election violence, witnessed in 2007/8 and in 201
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7, is the positive and negative role of social media as used by both citizens and politicians. Political competition driven through ethnic belonging, ethno-political extremism and hate speech on social media platforms has taken centre stage. This paper concludes that while social media is being exploited in a way that contributes to violence, social media is also contributing to peacebuilding. The paper calls for a multistakeholder collaborative approach to education and sensitisation programmes on the positive use of social media for democratic consolidation." (Introduction)
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"The world is flooded with news of how social media is being used to influence democracy in conflict-affected areas, for better or worse. Colombia is not an exception. The era of social media brings opportunities and challenges to a broad range of stakeholders in this country, to harness the power o
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f technological innovation to foster a more open and transparent democracy in the midst of conflict. This policy brief examines the positive and negative influence of social media in three cases: (i) the 2016 plebiscite about the endorsement of a peace agreement with the FARC-EP guerrilla; (ii) the presidential elections of 2018; and (iii) the threats and crimes against social leaders since the peace agreement was signed. Based on the cases analysed, the document draws recommendations for different actors at the local, national and international levels, to both minimise the harm and maximise the good of using social media in Colombian democratic spaces." (Abstract)
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"In this factsheet, we study online audience engagement with legacy and digital-born news media across social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) and the open web during the 2019 Indian General Election on the basis of data collected between 11 April and 19 May. We analyse cross-platform online a
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udience engagement with a sample of 101 major Indian news media during an election in which more than five thousand candidates ran for the 543 available seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian parliament, and nine hundred million eligible voters were called to the polls in the largest democratic election in the world." (Publisher description)
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"The 2018 general election represented one of the first times digital disinformation occurred on a massive scale in Pakistan. This report examines different forms of disinformation that circulated online in the lead up to the 2018 elections and its impact on the country’s political discourse, and
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considers methods to counter disinformation in Pakistan and elsewhere. Ultimately, combating this growing problem will require a variety of stakeholders to work toward a multi-pronged, collaborative response. Around 65 percent of Pakistanis aged 16-34 consume news through the internet. The rapid spread of disinformation online enables an arsenal of falsities, then used by individuals or groups to target a political candidate. Setting the record straight once disinformation begins circulating online is incredibly hard to do." (Key findings)
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"Ahead of the general election in April and May 2019, Indian political parties are using social media aggressively to propagate their ideology, mobilise public opinion, set policy agendas, and discredit detractors. Since the 2014 general election, India’s two major political parties – the Bharat
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iya Janata Party, which currently leads the coalition government, and the Indian National Congress, the main opposition party – have invested heavily in digital political campaigning." (Abstract)
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"Las personas basan sus decisiones y participación democrática en la información de la que disponen y si dicha información es deliberadamente manipulada a través del uso indebido de sus datos personales, sus decisiones posteriores podrían no ser genuinas. En el presente documento, los analista
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s de estudios se adentran en los principales elementos que problematizan la relación entre Democracia y Protección de Datos Personales en la era digital, reflexionando acerca de las investigaciones que comenzaron a gestarse desde las ciencias sociales, pero que se traspasaron a los actuales asesores y consultores políticos para que -con evidencia científica- fuese más probable la elección de algún candidato. También analizan el rol decisivo que han asumido los datos personales para que, a través de algoritmos y la integración de un sinnúmero de bases de datos, puedan influenciar las decisiones políticas de los ciudadanos. También indagan en la transformación y adaptación que han asumido los partidos políticos frente a la digitalización para no perder el nexo con la ciudadanía, la identificación de sus necesidades desde el comportamiento social visible, sus deseos y motivaciones, lo que evidencia un cambio de paradigma del control ciudadano. Exploran las herramientas para lograr influenciar las decisiones de los ciudadanos y analizan estrategias para minimizar el riesgo que conlleva la digitalización, actualizando, por ejemplo, la legislación vigente, empoderando a la ciudadanía respecto al uso de sus datos personales y generando un mayor comportamiento ético por parte de organismos o empresas que tratan esos datos personales. Dada la utilidad y los riesgos que se observan en la relación que se establece entre Democracia y Protección de Datos Personales en la era digital, consideramos que es tiempo de ir subsanando los vacíos regulatorios e informar a la ciudadanía sobre los eventuales riesgos que conlleva el desarrollo digital, para que así cada cual pueda disfrutar de sus beneficios y aceptar conscientemente sus riesgos o evitarlos, en la construcción de una sociedad mejor." (Presentación, página 4)
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"The first section of the chapter provides a brief overview of the legal framework that defines the concept of media space, with a specific focus on election day. Regulations included constraints on journalists' ability to cover the elections, which affected their access to polling stations. The sec
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ond section presents two very different -and often diametrically opposed - views held by the Union Election Commission (UEC) leadership and private media representatives. The root causes of the deeply entrenched mistrust that I observed will be placed in the context of recent private media expansion in the country following the lifting of pre-publication censorship. This includes very different institutional cultures, fundamental disagreements about the role of private media, and diverging political preferences. As a result of the mistrust, there were numerous missed opportunities that could have improved communication among key stakeholders and, in turn, increased awareness about the voting process among the general public. That being said, on election day, media played a fundamental role in legitimizing the vote and enabling a wider acceptance of the results." (Page 252)
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"Como parte de un proyecto sobre desinformación, el centro de Internet y Sociedad Linterna Verde, en asocio con la Fundación para la Libertad de Prensa, presenta un informe que monitorea los discursos de género –tanto de candidatos presidenciales como de sus fórmulas– a través del análisis
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de cerca de 45 mil entradas en Facebook y Twitter. Este ejercicio se realizó en compañía de Colnodo, que promueve la apropiación de tecnologías de la información y las comunicaciones con un enfoque de género. El ‘Polígrafo de Género’ permitió no sólo ver cómo las candidatas a la vicepresidencia han hablado de la mujer, sino también constatar que han sido ellas y no sus fórmulas presidenciales masculinas las que en últimas han empujado esta agenda –más allá del enfoque que escogieron–. Para algunas organizaciones de mujeres esta visibilidad no implicó siempre una mayor profundidad. Aunque las candidatas mencionaron temas que habían estado tradicionalmente invisibilizados, como la economía del cuidado o la reducción de la violencia contra la mujer, otros igualmente relevantes estuvieron ausentes." (Página web flip.org.co)
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