Online Censorship As We Approach Multiple National Elections

[MykeNukem]

   
Search Term DDG

2024/25 are not just 'election years' they are THE election years. With over 2 billion people voting in over 50 countries around the world, the stakes have never been higher.

We've seen an alarming increase in online censorship recently, and an ever increasing amount of that is under advisement from our respective governments and their liberal supporters, though, there is also an uptick in censorship by the right.

Do we have freedom of speech? Or not?

Are we able to decide for ourselves, what to believe, or not to believe? And then, to express it?

The problem with misinformation and disinformation isn't a 'people' problem, but, as the evidence reflects, it is an 'intelligence agency' and a 'health agency' and an 'economic agency' problem, as recent history attests, they are the main proprietors and cause of the problem, yet, they are also in charge of the 'solution'

Classical Hegelian Dialectic, and the 'people' fall for it every time:

As the U.S. 2024 presidential election gets underway, social media companies are caught in an unenviable position: trying to stop the spread of misinformation while also facing more and more allegations of censorship.

Claims of censorship online have, in some cases, stymied efforts to combat false election news shared online. The problem is not unique to the U.S.: high-stake elections are being held in dozens of countries around the world this year and some worry that misinformation could influence the results.

"Half of the world is voting this year and the world could stick with democracy or move toward authoritarianism," Darrell West, a senior fellow of technology innovation at the Brookings Institution, said. "The danger is, disinformation could decide the elections in a number of different countries."
CBS News

The Canadian cyber spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment (“CSE”), has stated that it is “very likely” that Canadian voters will encounter some sort of foreign interference ahead of the September 2021 election. This type of interference may come in the way of overt hacking attempts, or the more insidious dissemination of “fake news” on online platforms.
McCarthy

---

The following 'deepfake' appears more likely to be a local government operation, but they focus blame on 'foreign election interference':

Just days before Slovakia's national election last fall, a mysterious voice recording began spreading a lie online.

The manipulated file made it sound like Michal Simecka, leader of the Progressive Slovakia party, was discussing buying votes with a local journalist. But the conversation never happened; the file was later debunked as a "deepfake" hoax.

On election day, Simecka lost to the pro-Kremlin populist candidate Robert Fico in a tight race.
CBC

While it's nearly impossible to determine whether the deepfake file contributed to the final results, the incident points to growing fears about the effect products of artificial intelligence are having on democracy around the world — and in Canada.

"This is what we fear ... that there could be a foreign interference so grave that then the electoral roll results are brought into question," Caroline Xavier, head of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) — Canada's cyber intelligence agency — told CBC News.
CBC

---

Cautiously hopeful:

After weathering a years-long political and legal assault, researchers who study disinformation say they see reasons to be cautiously hopeful as their efforts heat up ahead of the 2024 election.

These researchers, along with the universities and nonprofits that they work for, have been in the crosshairs of Republicans and their allies, accused of acting as government proxies in a Biden administration plot to censor conservative speech online. Since 2021, those who worked to identify and combat disinformation around the last presidential election and Covid-19 have faced lawsuits, congressional inquiries and attacks online and in right-wing media that have threatened their reputations, careers and personal safety.

On Monday, during oral arguments at the Supreme Court, most of the justices voiced some support for governments and researchers working with social media platforms on content moderation, especially related to national security, emergencies and health.
NBC

Markedly Worse:

As destructive as these false election narratives have been, there is good reason to believe the problem may be markedly worse in 2024. Five factors are poised to degrade the election information environment even further compared with 2020: 1) right-wing legal and political attacks have successfully deterred key institutions, organizations, and government agencies from addressing falsehoods about the election process; 2) domestic actors appear increasingly robust and coordinated in their broader efforts to undermine confidence in American elections, too; 3) social media companies have drastically reduced efforts to moderate false election content and amplify accurate information; (4) a convergence of recent geopolitical crises seem set to galvanize renewed interest from foreign adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran to interfere in U.S. elections; and (5) recent advances in artificial intelligence mean adversaries of American democracy have access to tools that can boost voter suppression efforts and pollute the information environment on a scale and level of sophistication never seen before in a federal election cycle, though AI may also help address these threats.
Brennan Center

---

Election interference? Found it:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a decision that could have enormous consequences for the 2024 election, saying the US government can – for now – keep warning social media companies about mis- and disinformation threats it’s seeing online.

Although the case was decided narrowly on a technicality and not on the substance of the issues, the decision is nonetheless among the most consequential of the court’s current term.

The government’s outreach to social media platforms has been happening since the 2016 election and in direct response to Russia’s attempts to meddle in US politics. In 2020, a congressional inquiry faulted the US government and tech platforms for not working together more to respond to those types of informational threats, which could baselessly sow division among voters and weaken the United States on the world stage.
CNN

---

Do you think there's a problem with people posting misinfo/disinfo online, to the point that we have to censor them?

Or is posting misinfo/disinfo (during election years, or not) a fundamental right?

Sometimes opinions are full of misinfo/disinfo, therefore, battling misinfo/disinfo means battling opinion, doesn't it?

Have you noticed an uptick in censorship recently?

Comments?

[Nugget]

Search Term DDG

2024/25 are not just 'election years' they are THE election years. With over 2 billion people voting in over 50 countries around the world, the stakes have never been higher.

We've seen an alarming increase in online censorship recently, and an ever increasing amount of that is under advisement from our respective governments and their liberal supporters, though, there is also an uptick in censorship by the right.

Do we have freedom of speech? Or not?

Are we able to decide for ourselves, what to believe, or not to believe? And then, to express it?

The problem with misinformation and disinformation isn't a 'people' problem, but, as the evidence reflects, it is an 'intelligence agency' and a 'health agency' and an 'economic agency' problem, as recent history attests, they are the main proprietors and cause of the problem, yet, they are also in charge of the 'solution'

Classical Hegelian Dialectic, and the 'people' fall for it every time:

As the U.S. 2024 presidential election gets underway, social media companies are caught in an unenviable position: trying to stop the spread of misinformation while also facing more and more allegations of censorship.

Claims of censorship online have, in some cases, stymied efforts to combat false election news shared online. The problem is not unique to the U.S.: high-stake elections are being held in dozens of countries around the world this year and some worry that misinformation could influence the results.

"Half of the world is voting this year and the world could stick with democracy or move toward authoritarianism," Darrell West, a senior fellow of technology innovation at the Brookings Institution, said. "The danger is, disinformation could decide the elections in a number of different countries."
CBS News

The Canadian cyber spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment (“CSE”), has stated that it is “very likely” that Canadian voters will encounter some sort of foreign interference ahead of the September 2021 election. This type of interference may come in the way of overt hacking attempts, or the more insidious dissemination of “fake news” on online platforms.
McCarthy

-------

The following 'deepfake' appears more likely to be a local government operation, but they focus blame on 'foreign election interference':

Just days before Slovakia's national election last fall, a mysterious voice recording began spreading a lie online.

The manipulated file made it sound like Michal Simecka, leader of the Progressive Slovakia party, was discussing buying votes with a local journalist. But the conversation never happened; the file was later debunked as a "deepfake" hoax.

On election day, Simecka lost to the pro-Kremlin populist candidate Robert Fico in a tight race.
CBC

While it's nearly impossible to determine whether the deepfake file contributed to the final results, the incident points to growing fears about the effect products of artificial intelligence are having on democracy around the world — and in Canada.

"This is what we fear ... that there could be a foreign interference so grave that then the electoral roll results are brought into question," Caroline Xavier, head of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) — Canada's cyber intelligence agency — told CBC News.
CBC

-------

After weathering a years-long political and legal assault, researchers who study disinformation say they see reasons to be cautiously hopeful as their efforts heat up ahead of the 2024 election.

These researchers, along with the universities and nonprofits that they work for, have been in the crosshairs of Republicans and their allies, accused of acting as government proxies in a Biden administration plot to censor conservative speech online. Since 2021, those who worked to identify and combat disinformation around the last presidential election and Covid-19 have faced lawsuits, congressional inquiries and attacks online and in right-wing media that have threatened their reputations, careers and personal safety.

On Monday, during oral arguments at the Supreme Court, most of the justices voiced some support for governments and researchers working with social media platforms on content moderation, especially related to national security, emergencies and health.
NBC

As destructive as these false election narratives have been, there is good reason to believe the problem may be markedly worse in 2024. Five factors are poised to degrade the election information environment even further compared with 2020: 1) right-wing legal and political attacks have successfully deterred key institutions, organizations, and government agencies from addressing falsehoods about the election process; 2) domestic actors appear increasingly robust and coordinated in their broader efforts to undermine confidence in American elections, too; 3) social media companies have drastically reduced efforts to moderate false election content and amplify accurate information; (4) a convergence of recent geopolitical crises seem set to galvanize renewed interest from foreign adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran to interfere in U.S. elections; and (5) recent advances in artificial intelligence mean adversaries of American democracy have access to tools that can boost voter suppression efforts and pollute the information environment on a scale and level of sophistication never seen before in a federal election cycle, though AI may also help address these threats.
Brennan Center

Election interference? Found it:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a decision that could have enormous consequences for the 2024 election, saying the US government can – for now – keep warning social media companies about mis- and disinformation threats it’s seeing online.

Although the case was decided narrowly on a technicality and not on the substance of the issues, the decision is nonetheless among the most consequential of the court’s current term.

The government’s outreach to social media platforms has been happening since the 2016 election and in direct response to Russia’s attempts to meddle in US politics. In 2020, a congressional inquiry faulted the US government and tech platforms for not working together more to respond to those types of informational threats, which could baselessly sow division among voters and weaken the United States on the world stage.
CNN

Do you think there's a problem with people posting bullshit online, to the point that we have to censor them?

Or is posting bullshit (during election years, or not) a fundamental right?

Have you noticed an uptick in censorship anywhere?

Comments?

I'v begun to think governments have always controlled the narative to give us our beliefs, but the advent of social media put a huge wrench in their ability to continue.
It looks like they're going to pull all the stops to regain control of what we're allowed to believe.

After 9/11 we lost  a LOT of rights vis the Patriot Act, and I think the unrest elections in November will cause will usher in a whole new world-one most of us won't like, and the rest aren't deep enough thinkers to see what the end game is.

[19Bones79]

Search Term DDG

2024/25 are not just 'election years' they are THE election years. With over 2 billion people voting in over 50 countries around the world, the stakes have never been higher.

We've seen an alarming increase in online censorship recently, and an ever increasing amount of that is under advisement from our respective governments and their liberal supporters, though, there is also an uptick in censorship by the right.

Do we have freedom of speech? Or not?

Are we able to decide for ourselves, what to believe, or not to believe? And then, to express it?

The problem with misinformation and disinformation isn't a 'people' problem, but, as the evidence reflects, it is an 'intelligence agency' and a 'health agency' and an 'economic agency' problem, as recent history attests, they are the main proprietors and cause of the problem, yet, they are also in charge of the 'solution'

Classical Hegelian Dialectic, and the 'people' fall for it every time:

As the U.S. 2024 presidential election gets underway, social media companies are caught in an unenviable position: trying to stop the spread of misinformation while also facing more and more allegations of censorship.

Claims of censorship online have, in some cases, stymied efforts to combat false election news shared online. The problem is not unique to the U.S.: high-stake elections are being held in dozens of countries around the world this year and some worry that misinformation could influence the results.

"Half of the world is voting this year and the world could stick with democracy or move toward authoritarianism," Darrell West, a senior fellow of technology innovation at the Brookings Institution, said. "The danger is, disinformation could decide the elections in a number of different countries."
CBS News

The Canadian cyber spy agency, the Communications Security Establishment (“CSE”), has stated that it is “very likely” that Canadian voters will encounter some sort of foreign interference ahead of the September 2021 election. This type of interference may come in the way of overt hacking attempts, or the more insidious dissemination of “fake news” on online platforms.
McCarthy

---

The following 'deepfake' appears more likely to be a local government operation, but they focus blame on 'foreign election interference':

Just days before Slovakia's national election last fall, a mysterious voice recording began spreading a lie online.

The manipulated file made it sound like Michal Simecka, leader of the Progressive Slovakia party, was discussing buying votes with a local journalist. But the conversation never happened; the file was later debunked as a "deepfake" hoax.

On election day, Simecka lost to the pro-Kremlin populist candidate Robert Fico in a tight race.
CBC

While it's nearly impossible to determine whether the deepfake file contributed to the final results, the incident points to growing fears about the effect products of artificial intelligence are having on democracy around the world — and in Canada.

"This is what we fear ... that there could be a foreign interference so grave that then the electoral roll results are brought into question," Caroline Xavier, head of the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) — Canada's cyber intelligence agency — told CBC News.
CBC

---

Cautiously hopeful:

After weathering a years-long political and legal assault, researchers who study disinformation say they see reasons to be cautiously hopeful as their efforts heat up ahead of the 2024 election.

These researchers, along with the universities and nonprofits that they work for, have been in the crosshairs of Republicans and their allies, accused of acting as government proxies in a Biden administration plot to censor conservative speech online. Since 2021, those who worked to identify and combat disinformation around the last presidential election and Covid-19 have faced lawsuits, congressional inquiries and attacks online and in right-wing media that have threatened their reputations, careers and personal safety.

On Monday, during oral arguments at the Supreme Court, most of the justices voiced some support for governments and researchers working with social media platforms on content moderation, especially related to national security, emergencies and health.
NBC

Markedly Worse:

As destructive as these false election narratives have been, there is good reason to believe the problem may be markedly worse in 2024. Five factors are poised to degrade the election information environment even further compared with 2020: 1) right-wing legal and political attacks have successfully deterred key institutions, organizations, and government agencies from addressing falsehoods about the election process; 2) domestic actors appear increasingly robust and coordinated in their broader efforts to undermine confidence in American elections, too; 3) social media companies have drastically reduced efforts to moderate false election content and amplify accurate information; (4) a convergence of recent geopolitical crises seem set to galvanize renewed interest from foreign adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran to interfere in U.S. elections; and (5) recent advances in artificial intelligence mean adversaries of American democracy have access to tools that can boost voter suppression efforts and pollute the information environment on a scale and level of sophistication never seen before in a federal election cycle, though AI may also help address these threats.
Brennan Center

---

Election interference? Found it:

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a decision that could have enormous consequences for the 2024 election, saying the US government can – for now – keep warning social media companies about mis- and disinformation threats it’s seeing online.

Although the case was decided narrowly on a technicality and not on the substance of the issues, the decision is nonetheless among the most consequential of the court’s current term.

The government’s outreach to social media platforms has been happening since the 2016 election and in direct response to Russia’s attempts to meddle in US politics. In 2020, a congressional inquiry faulted the US government and tech platforms for not working together more to respond to those types of informational threats, which could baselessly sow division among voters and weaken the United States on the world stage.
CNN

---

Do you think there's a problem with people posting misinfo/disinfo online, to the point that we have to censor them?

Or is posting misinfo/disinfo (during election years, or not) a fundamental right?

Sometimes opinions are full of misinfo/disinfo, therefore, battling misinfo/disinfo means battling opinion, doesn't it?

Have you noticed an uptick in censorship recently?

Comments?

Great OP, Myke. 

What stands out for me in these trying times beyond the point where I can ignore it is the following :

No matter which continent you live on, the governments are in lockstep with this dystopian reality that awaits us all. 

Forget your representatives acting in good faith for the good of the country and the people living there. 

There are no leaders left on the planet that want to govern by the people and for the people. 

Even those we thought were on 'our side' have been compromised to the point where the choice is a quick death or a slow death, and most people are rooting for a slow death as opposed to standing up and saying 'enough!'.

99% of people are living from paycheck to paycheck so understandably being the first to put yourself on the line and take a brave first step of defiance is not the easiest of tasks especially if you have people that are dependent on your ability to provide.

The perfect catch-22 especially since all sense of community feels a bit contrived in this hurricane and a lot of people will still unknowingly defend the repressive forces that are responsible for this s*storm. 

How is it that across all regions and cultures and political and economical systems all our leaders are sociopaths that can unanimously agree on destroying the sovereignty of the countries they are responsible for?

How do they, for the first time in history find a movement to unite over unanimously and it's to the most extreme detriment of the people they represent. 

It can only happen when there is an international force with zero regard for boundaries that are so powerful that the world has no way of standing up to them. 

In order to wield such power, they would have to control certain institutions that are unaffected by possible threats of any effective government.

There's only one such institution that I know of in about 98% of countries, and the countries that don't have them we are led to believe are "very evil and hopefully the global machine can overthrow them".

If we can't, or won't identify our enemies, what is the point of resisting, and are we embroiled in fighting little battles while the tide of war won't be swayed by even 1 degree off its intended course.

[MykeNukem]

Great OP, Myke. 

What stands out for me in these trying times beyond the point where I can ignore it is the following :

No matter which continent you live on, the governments are in lockstep with this dystopian reality that awaits us all. 

Forget your representatives acting in good faith for the good of the country and the people living there. 

There are no leaders left on the planet that want to govern by the people and for the people. 

Even those we thought were on 'our side' have been compromised to the point where the choice is a quick death or a slow death, and most people are rooting for a slow death as opposed to standing up and saying 'enough!'.

99% of people are living from paycheck to paycheck so understandably being the first to put yourself on the line and take a brave first step of defiance is not the easiest of tasks especially if you have people that are dependent on your ability to provide.

The perfect catch-22 especially since all sense of community feels a bit contrived in this hurricane and a lot of people will still unknowingly defend the repressive forces that are responsible for this s*storm. 

How is it that across all regions and cultures and political and economical systems all our leaders are sociopaths that can unanimously agree on destroying the sovereignty of the countries they are responsible for?

How do they, for the first time in history find a movement to unite over unanimously and it's to the most extreme detriment of the people they represent. 

It can only happen when there is an international force with zero regard for boundaries that are so powerful that the world has no way of standing up to them. 

In order to wield such power, they would have to control certain institutions that are unaffected by possible threats of any effective government.

There's only one such institution that I know of in about 98% of countries, and the countries that don't have them we are led to believe are "very evil and hopefully the global machine can overthrow them".

If we can't, or won't identify our enemies, what is the point of resisting, and are we embroiled in fighting little battles while the tide of war won't be swayed by even 1 degree off its intended course.

Yessir.

They use the economy and cancel-culture to keep people in fear. 

You learn your lesson very quickly when the threat of your life or livelihood is at stake.

It's coming soon, it's inevitable, just time now. Hopefully people will fucking wake up in time.

Concerning your '98% institution', I disagree, I'd say that includes ALL our leaders ATM, they're all f'n evil especially the West, as we pat ourselves on the back and play along at being the good guys.

We may get a small respite if Trump and Poilievre get in but that's all it will be, a short respite, but still inside the eye of the tornado, nevertheless.

What a fuckin shitshow.

[MykeNukem]

I've begun to think governments have always controlled the narative to give us our beliefs, but the advent of social media put a huge wrench in their ability to continue.
It looks like they're going to pull all the stops to regain control of what we're allowed to believe.

After 9/11 we lost  LOT of rights vis the Patriot Act, and I think the unrest elections in November will cause will usher in a whole new world-one most of us won't like, and the rest aren't deep enough thinkers to see what the end game is.

They do not like us being able to communicate about 'them' without there being a mechanism to punish us for 'wrongspeak'.

Soon, that mechanism will be AI, they're just getting started, unfortunately.

Couple AI with a Social Credit Score and CBDC, and we're talking our worst f'n nightmare come true. That nightmare is just around the corner, judging by current social and technological trends.

Stay Vigilant.