Hate speech and disinformation in South Africa’s elections: big tech make it tough to monitor social media

Hate speech and disinformation in South Africa’s elections: big tech make it tough to monitor social media

By Guy Berger, Rhodes University There’s a growing global movement to ensure that researchers can get access to the huge quantity of data assembled and exploited by digital operators. Momentum is mounting because it’s becoming increasingly evident that data is power. And access to it is the key – for a host of reasons, not least transparency, human rights and electoral integrity. But there’s currently […]

May 28, 2024 22

Lifestyle

Disinformation is often blamed for swaying elections – the research says something else

Alexandru Nika/Shutterstock Magda Osman, Cambridge Judge Business School Many countries face general elections this year. Political campaigning will include misleading and even false information. Just days ago, it was reported that a robocall impersonating US president Joe Biden had told recipients not to vote in the presidential primary. But can disinformation significantly influence voting? There are two typical styles of election campaigning. One is positive, presenting favourable attributes of politicians […]

January 29, 2024 15