"Internet shutdowns in Africa are becoming increasingly widespread, particularly when governments face competitive or contentious elections. They have also come to symbolise a widening fracture between competing conceptions of the global Internet and its regulation. Governments in Africa are justify
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ing shutdowns as able address misinformation and disinformation, protect the election process, and ensure national security. International organisations, NGOs, and social networking platforms condemn these as an inadmissible form of censorship and information control, an abuse by political actors seeking to silence critics or manipulate elections. This article offers an alternative reading on internet shutdowns by placing them in the historical context of the wide range of information controls around elections, many of which are widely regarded as being acceptable and legitimate mechanisms to support competitive elections. By offering this context, we can ask what is new about shutdowns and whether they can ever be regarded as a proportionate response to real concerns of social media and election manipulation. We conclude by highlighting the inequalities of online content moderation as an often-overlooked factor in driving the use of shutdowns, and the failure of social media companies to effectively address misinformation and disinformation in Africa, particularly around elections." (Abstract)
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"This article examines the roles of social media on youth’s political participation in the 2019 General Elections in Nigeria. It interrogates the roles played by these communication tools in the emancipation and agency of youths while revealing the double-edged implications the devices may have on
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the democratic processes and aspirants. The article employs both primary and secondary methods of data sourcing. Primary data were obtained from in-depth interviews with social media ‘influencers’ who played vital roles during the 2019 General Election in Nigeria. Further data were obtained from selected social media accounts of prominent politicians and analysed using content analysis. Secondary data were extracted from books, articles, newspapers and magazines. Also, the study was contextualised using use and gratification theory. The study concluded that social media played a vital role in the 2019 General Election in Nigeria. It revealed how social media contributed to citizens’ power and agency through debates and narratives which were instrumental in agenda-setting for the ruling class and citizens’ democratic expectations." (Abstract)
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"On April 3, 2022, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party won a fourth term in national elections, cementing its dominance with a two-thirds majority that will allow it to continue traveling what critics of the party and many others would describe as the path of centralizing power and rolling back democrat
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ic safeguards. International observers characterized the elections as free but raised serious concerns about their fairness. These included blurring the lines between the government and the ruling party in campaigning, which amplified the advantage of the ruling coalition, the absence of a level playing field, and lack of balance in campaign coverage in the press, on television, and on billboards. Fidesz’s effective control over large sections of the media, undermining the independence of the judiciary and public institutions, and curbing of civil society has received considerable attention from international media and international observers. However, its misuse of people’s personal data, which helped the party reach voters in new, opaque ways, has received relatively little scrutiny. This report examines how data-driven campaigning in Hungary’s 2022 elections exacerbated an already uneven playing field and undermined the right to privacy. It also documents new forms of misuse of personal data collected by the government and used for political campaigning by Fidesz in the 2022 elections." (Summary)
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"Narrativas de desinformação - principais achados: 1. Entre alegações de fraude e apelos moralistas, a Integridade Eleitoral e os Valores Cristãos despontam como as principais pautas do segundo turno. 2. Parte da relevância dos valores cristãos se dá pelo reenquadramento de outras pautas ger
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ais da campanha permanente pela ótica e moral religiosas. 3. A pauta de Gênero e Família cresce nas plataformas durante o período do 2º turno, graças à discussão sobre aborto, comumente associada à moral religiosa. 4. A discussão sobre integridade eleitoral aumenta em momentos estratégicos, como o 7 de setembro e a votação do primeiro turno. Cresce o risco associado à pauta, com “previsões” de fraude que abrem espaço à contestação no segundo turno. 5. No Facebook e Instagram, predomina a atividade regular e institucionalizada de organizações e lideranças que trabalham com gênero e meio ambiente." (Página 2)
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"Platforms have power. But this power is not unchecked. Governments have an important role to play in protecting their citizens' rights vis-à-vis third parties and ensuring a communication order in which rights are not violated. (And in addition, of course, they need to respect human rights themsel
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ves and not arbitrarily shut down sites or use their power to make the Internet less free and open). As leader of working group 2 it is my distinct privilege to present this collection which unites studies by researchers within the Global Digital Human Rights Networks on issues connected to the overarching question of how platforms deal with human rights and their human rights obligations. This study is a key deliverable of our working group in the second year of the Global Digital Human Rights Network's activities. We will follow-up with Guidelines for platforms and an Assessment Model for states and other stakeholders in 2024. We developed this study under Corona conditions but were able to meet in the Tyrolean Alps in Obergurgl, Austria, in July 2022 to finalize this study." (Preface, page 7)
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"La aparición de las redes sociodigitales a mediados de la primera década de 2000 fue recibida con entusiasmo y recelo por diversos sectores sociales. Los ciudadanos vieron en espacios como Facebook, Twitter y, más recientemente, Instagram, una consolidación de la autocomunicación de masas plan
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teada por Manuel Castells en 1997 que acercaba el poder de la información y la comunicación a las personas del común, mientras los políticos dudaban entre si era un riesgo o una oportunidad en la disputa del poder en la opinión pública. Lo ocurrido en los casi veinte años de vida de las redes sociodigitales ha mostrado su poder de movilización social (Occupy Wall Street, Primavera Árabe, #MeToo) y su impacto político, pero también ha expuesto varios riesgos derivados del uso social y de los algoritmos que controlan la red, entre ellos las cámaras de eco, la espiral de silencio, el contenido engañoso (misinformation), el contenido falso (desinformación), el exceso de información (infodemia) y la presencia de bots que replican información para convertirla en tendencia u ocultar contenidos." (Publisher description)
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"The Multistakeholder Dialogue on Electoral Disinformation (MDED) project sought the perspectives of pro-democracy actors and key agents in the electoral process to map out election integrity initiatives, assess organizational capacities for disinformation mitigation, and identify influence operatio
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ns trends for 2022. Phase 1 of the project cast a wide net in sampling diverse participants both old and new players to fair elections projects. This report summarizes common themes from the focus groups and individual interviews with my own critical assessment of important gaps in coalition work and donor programming that MDED aims to enhance." (Page 8)
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"While much has been said about individual disinformation campaigns in specific countries, this book offers a panoramic view of how these campaigns are conducted, who they target, and how they are spread. By bringing together research on specific countries and international data mined from questionn
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aires and online studies, the understanding of the term 'fake news' is greatly expanded and the issues we face are brought to light. The book includes contributions by experts such as Jean-Baptiste Vilmer (Macron Leaks), and includes case studies from Asia, such as Singapore and Myanmar, written in an accessible manner for the general interested reader, practitioners and policymakers in the field." (Publisher description)
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"This article contributes to the scholarship on Latin American campaigning by presenting data on the use of social media by presidential candidates in Guatemala’s 2019 election, including a content analysis of more than 2,000 Facebook posts along fifteen variables. The data show that Facebook use
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by presidential campaigns is ubiquitous and allows campaigns to disseminate messages in non-traditional formats. Candidates use their Facebook accounts to mention issues of concern to voters and to make promises to fix the country’s problems, but offer far more slogans and vague promises than detailed policy proposals. They also rarely attack other candidates or tout their own qualifications for the presidency. The data also reveal systematic differences in campaign messaging between frontrunner and long-shot candidates." (Abstract)
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"For analysing populist and dis- and minformation-driven campaigning, three sub-groupings of South African Twitter deserve particular attention. A) A community of radical populists made of black consciousness voices emphasising the struggle against 'white monopoly capital,' using this phrase as a di
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sinformation strategy initially run by Bell Pottinger back in 2017, which had the effect of polarising white and black South Africans. This community was the audience the EFF and RET audience appealed to. B) A community galvanised around the #PutSouthAfricansFirst hashtag and movement and its über-nationalism and xenophobia - disdain for primarily African foreign nationals. Influencers used this hashtag to demonise foreign nationals for crime, unemployment, homelessness and other disinformation. Political parties such as ATM and ActionSA used the same hashtag to campaign for votes under the guise of calling for the integrity of South Africa's borders and jobs. Their nationalist calls continued to form a crucial part of these parties' messaging, even as they benefited from the negative sentiment generated towards foreigners by the more strident anonymous accounts. C) A community of minority ideologies and groups predominantly made up of South Africa's white body politic polarised from the rest of South African Twitter influenced by overlapping harmful iterations of Libertarianism and Conservatism. Conspiracy theorists, Covid-19 denialists, anti-institution, anti-vaxxers reside within this community with imported overt MAGA-style Trumpian Alt-Right. The DA, Cape Party, ACDP appealed to this community. An analysis of tweets generated in the lead up to the election showed that one in four tweets were generated by the EFF community, underscoring the extent to which that party dominated the platform. However, it also highlights the disconnect between Twitter and the 'real world'. The EFF was only the third-largest party with roughly 10% votes." (Lessons learned and conclusion, page 99)
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"The playbook approach consists of how to (1) identify ongoing information manipulation campaigns; (2) develop real-time and short-term responses; and (3) build long-term resilience to information manipulation. While we outline three distinct steps in this playbook, the process for combating informa
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tion manipulation is circular, with each step overlapping and reinforcing the others. Planning timelines will vary based on context, but—if at all possible—we encourage proactive rather than reactive planning to effectively counter electoral information manipulation. The playbook’s three-part strategy can help you develop rapid and real-time responses, as well as establish long-term and sustainable approaches to building resilience in order to maintain the integrity of elections and strengthen democratic processes." (Page 3)
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"Este informe de UNESCO en Perú analiza una variedad de respuestas que han sido implementadas en el país para contrarrestar los efectos de la desinformación durante las Elecciones Generales 2021. El estudio reconoce que diversas organizaciones han contribuido en la lucha contra las llamadas fake
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news en un contexto nacional de crisis sanitaria, polarización y baja credibilidad institucional. Dada la relevancia de los diferentes tipos de respuestas que se han generado, el presente informe los sistematiza y analiza con el propósito de generar reflexión sobre la problemática de la desinformación en el país, así como con la intención que este documento sea de utilidad en futuros procesos electorales." (Resumen ejecutivo)
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"This research scrutinizes the content, spread, and implications of disinformation in Brazil’s 2018 pre-election period. It focuses specifically on the most widely shared fake news about Lula da Silva and links these with the preexisting polarization and political radicalization, ascertaining the
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role of context. The research relied on a case study and mixed-methods approach that combined an online data collection of content, spread, propagators, and interactions’ analyses, with in-depth analysis of the meaning of such fake news. The results show that the most successful fake news about Lula capitalized on prior hostility toward him, several originated or were spread by conservative right-wing politicians and mainstream journalists, and that the pro-Lula fake news circulated in smaller networks and had overall less global reach. Facebook and WhatsApp were the main dissemination platforms of these contents." (Abstract)
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"In this article, we analyze the spread of political disinformation in events of discursive struggles on Twitter, during the 2018 presidential election in Brazil. These were disputes for the hegemonic narrative between two stories based on opposed hashtags: one based on news from mainstream media an
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d the other, based on disinformation, mostly from hyperpartisan outlets. Our goal was to understand how hyperpartisan outlets created and shaped these discursive struggles and the strategies used to spread disinformation to create an “alternative narrative” to the facts. Our case study is focused on two discursive struggles, for which we will use critical discourse analysis and social network analysis. Our findings suggest that (1) the structure of the hashtag wars was very polarized and right-wing groups had higher exposure to hyperpartisan content and disinformation, while traditional media discourse circulates more among other different ideological clusters; (2) rightwing hyperpartisan media mostly used biased framing and polarized ideological discourse structure as manipulative strategies to reframe the events and create a counter-narrative (and thus, to create the dispute); and (3) opinion leaders were major spreaders of disinformation among far-right users, as they reinforced hyperpartisan content and became key actors in the discursive struggles (and thus, reinforced the dispute)." (Abstract)
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"The EU Support to Democratic Governance in Nigeria (EU SDGN) project funded by the EU employed a ‘social media first’ approach to strengthen the political knowledge, understanding, discussion and efficacy of young (18-24 years) women and men across all 36 states and FCT in Nigeria. High-impact
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social media content in the form of infographics, short factual films, still photographs, short drama skits and Public Service Announcements were produced and posted under the EU SDGN project (and MI-VotE project) across our BBC Media Action Arewa (Hausa) and Naija (English) Facebook and Instagram platforms to share balanced information on electoral and political processes, role model political participation, and engage young Nigerians in social issues that matter to them. The project also strengthened the capacity of media organisations across Nigeria to provide more trusted, accurate and balanced social media content that meets audience needs." (Page 1)
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"Among the various forms of online censorship, internet shutdowns are some of the most invasive and blunt. Unlike traditional forms of censorship like blocking internet pages or certain content, these disruptions to digital communications are architectural and affect a preliminary condition in the i
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nformation society: access to the internet. While many conversations on the impact of network disruptions on human rights tend to centre around civil and political rights, the disruptions also have a profound impact on socio-economic rights, such as the right to education, housing, health, and even social security [...] The best experience that can be replicated elsewhere is the legal action that was backed by civil society organisations and lawyers against mobile operators and governments over internet shut down in January 2019 in Zimbabwe. The shutdown caused loss of business and income and threats to life, according to the suit filed by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and the Zimbabwe unit of the Media Institute of Southern Africa. The legal action was directed at the three mobile networks operating in the country, including Econet Wireless Zimbabwe Ltd, as well as President Emmerson Mnangagwa, the national security minister and the head of the intelligence services. The state security minister ordered service providers to switch off the internet after a wave of violent anti-government demonstrations in the country. In this case the high court decided that “the minister had no authority to make that order.” Redress at a regional level is another avenue that should be explored as encouraging moves are seen at least from courts that are under the regional economic communities (RECs). In 2019, Access Now together with other eight organisations, submitted a brief to Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), arguing that the shutdown in Togo was inconsistent with regional and international frameworks and violated the fundamental human rights of the Togolese people. The ECOWAS court ruled that the blackouts in Togo were illegal." (Pages 2-5)
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"Starting from the assumption that media play a crucial role for populist discourses of authenticity, the volume moves beyond conventional and social media by expanding its focus to media in formal education, notably school textbooks and curricula. These two particular media formats lastingly shape
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younger generations and thus the future. The proposed volume adopts global perspectives from three postcolonial countries that are often beyond the scope of studies dealing with populist discourses and media entanglements - insights that contribute new aspects to international scholarly debates." (Publisher description)
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