At least 18 elections worldwide interfered with over past year

At least 18 elections worldwide were interfered with through social media, with fears Australia could also be vulnerable.

US President Donald Trump Russian President Vladimir Putin at APEC. Picture: AFP/Mikhail Klimentyv

At least 18 elections worldwide were interfered with through social media and the internet over the past year as governments ramp up their attempts to manipulate their citizens, according to a new report released by a leading democracy watchdog.

Overall world press freedoms declined for the seventh consecutive year according to the annual Freedom on the Net 2017 report released by Freedom House. The report monitors online freedom in 65 countries. China has the worst press freedom worldwide, followed by Syria and Ethiopia, and Australia ranks sixth highest, behind Iceland, Estonia, Canada, Germany and the US.

The most prominent example of electoral interference is Russia’s role in the 2016 US election, but electoral interference is more commonly employed by incumbent governments seeking to maintain power.

University of Sydney politics and media expert Dr Peter Chen says Australia is vulnerable to the same electoral interference that occurred during the 2016 president election. “The electoral interference was simple and there’s no way to ameliorate it at present and we are open to that.” he said. “Russian agents bought ads, they can do that here.”

However, he also says whether Russia’s interference was actually influential is questionable, and describes the media and political class’ reaction to the issue as “moral panic” around the efficacy of the fourth estate. “We’re equally exposed to them, but their effectiveness is contestable.” he said. “The issue is they erode trust in institutions.”

Freedom House president Michael J. Abramowitz said that while China and Russia pioneered these tactics, governments worldwide are adopting them. “The use of paid commentators and political bots to spread government propaganda was pioneered by China and Russia but has now gone global.” he said. “The effects of these rapidly spreading techniques on democracy and civic activism are potentially devastating.”

Bots are increasingly used to influence online discussion and manipulate public opinion and generated half of all web traffic last year.

Freedom House also found that governments are increasingly adopting the same social media tactics as grassroots activists to influence public opinion and subvert the authority of the press. Thirty nations are deploying paid commentators, trolls and fake news to drum up popular support. In the Philippines, trolls are paid US$10 a day to operate fake social media accounts endorsing Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte.

Freedom on the Net project director Sanja Kelly says governments are using social media to shut down dissenting voices and create the illusion of popular support. “The fabrication of grassroots support for government policies on social media creates a closed loop in which the regime essentially endorses itself, leaving independent groups and ordinary citizens on the outside,” Kelly said.

Fake news continues to cause turmoil and producers of misleading information are now able to effectively conceal fake news with real news. During the 2017 Kenyan elections, fake news articles and videos branded with the logos CNN, BBC and NTV Kenya flooded social media and search.

Freedom House senior researcher Rose Dlougatch says digital and social media literacy needs to be improve to combat the rise of online manipulation. “Increasing overall digital literacy by teaching users to think critically about online content will go some way towards helping users pick up on manipulation..” she said. “As social media becomes a battlefield for ideas, it is important for users to have the tools to be more discerning about the content they consume online.”