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As America To prepare for next year’s mid-term elections, and the ensuing massive amount of false information and propaganda online at home and abroad, it is vital to formulate reasonable social and legal protection measures. group Most likely to be the target of digital spinning activities. Although the timing is right, we must create a new blueprint for democratic Internet governance so that we can protect all types of people affected by continuing problems in this field.
In the past two years Publicity Research Office At the Media Engagement Center of the University of Texas at Austin, he has been studying how global producers of various social media-based propaganda efforts can focus their strategies. One of the major findings of the laboratory in the United States is that people who work for a series of political parties, domestic and foreign governments, political consulting companies, and public relations groups often use a combination of private platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram, as well as more open platforms. Companies like Facebook and YouTube try to manipulate minority voting blocks in specific regions or cities. For example, we found that they paid special attention to spreading political false information among them. Immigrant and diaspora communities In Florida, North Carolina and other swing states.
Although some of the content comes from American groups that want to influence the vote of a candidate, most of it Unknown origin And the intention is not clear. For example, it is not uncommon to encounter content that claims or appears to be from users in China, Venezuela, Russia, or India, some of which are characteristic of organized government manipulation activities in these countries.
Considering our current understanding of authoritarian tendencies, this may not be surprising Tenders by foreign entities Affect the political affairs of the United States and many other countries around the world. Both China and Russia are continuing their efforts to control large technology companies and control their citizens’ Internet experience accordingly. In fact, our laboratory has collected evidence of some campaigns in which Americans of Chinese descent—especially first or second generation immigrants—are targeted by complex digital campaigns that have Beijing The characteristics of similar efforts outside.We have seen suspicious social media profiles (thousands of them on Twitter later deleted) After the murder of George Floyd, Congressional uprising, Hong Kong protests, and other key events, seize anti-American and anti-democratic rhetoric—and ebullient pro-Beijing rhetoric. In our interviews and digital research around the 2020 US presidential election, we encountered Arabs, Colombians, Brazilians, and Indians who became the targets of similar efforts. We also talked with propagandists, who publicly stated that they tried to manipulate a wider range of immigrants, diasporas, and minorities, such as falsely believing that Joe Biden is a socialist, so they should not support him.
And the influence of control by China, Russia or other authoritarian regimes Their own “domestic” internet According to extensive reports, the emergence of propaganda campaigns by these regimes clearly transcended the borders of a nation-state. These efforts affect communities connected to these countries living elsewhere — including here in the United States — and countries that want these undemocratic superpowers to instruct how to manage (or dominate) their digital information ecosystem.
Russia, China, and other authoritarian countries are one step ahead of their segmented versions of the Internet based on authoritarian principles to monitor and suppress freedom of speech and individual rights. These control activities penetrate into other information spaces around the world.For example, a study by the Slovak think tank GLOBSEC found The influence of the Kremlin In the digital ecosystem of several EU member states. They believe that both passive and active Russian information conspiracies will affect public perceptions of governance and ultimately undermine European democracy.
However, democracies have also failed to control the Internet.After years of naive belief that the technology industry can and should adjust With the end of the Capitol Rebellion promoted by social media, global policymakers and other stakeholders are now asking what a more democratic and human rights Internet should look like.
If the Biden administration wants to honor its Recommit For transatlantic cooperation, the management of the digital field should occupy a central position. As authoritarian countries develop and consolidate their influence, democracies need to quickly catch up.Although the EU has led efforts to protect individuals privacy Rights and strikes False information And hate speech online, the task is far from complete.Even with legislative efforts, such as Digital Service Act with rule Neither the European Union nor the United States can act alone on the issue of artificial intelligence taking shape. Democracy flourishes in strong alliances, and without them, democracy is at risk of collapse.
We need a new blueprint for democratic Internet governance.This is an unprecedented undertaking, because our society does not have comparable legal or policy experience and can Effectively used as a template Work hard for numbers. For example, the phenomena created by the digital revolution challenge our understanding of individual rights and force us to redefine their equal adaptation to the 21st century.What does freedom of speech mean Automatic access An audience of hundreds of thousands of users? What about users who may be particularly vulnerable to manipulation or harassment? Have we fully protected our online privacy rights-a space where various suspicious organizations continue to freely follow our every move? Determining the answers to these and other pressing questions is not easy, especially because finding them requires the cooperation of many conflicting stakeholders: citizens/users, civil servants, civil society groups, academics, and crucially technical departments .
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