Mexico is probably not the 1st place that comes to mind when you think of online manipulation sure its happening everywhere but the countries we often hear the most about are the usa and russia. Mexico has been a testing ground for some of the most insidious online tactics weve seen unleashed around the world. Theres a blogger turned activist called alberto a school zia here in mexico city who im on my way to meet now alberto has been deeply involved in investigating political bots trolls and artificial trends in mexico since 2010 hes received significant blowback because of his work Death Threats have forced him to leave the country 5 times. As many important to me he called. The most bloodiest process all of them to. The last whats the. Last stand in vietnam in tokyo. Yes and which is and. George will give us windows to them were going to and the most to me on the current us the time in the facebook i mean instagram because he thought of the us a dollar store of produce at a 3rd of the money people are like him but since youre used to lament elementis on a little studio where you can there are more to the enable you can there are more showing fluency one of the most effective and powerful tools for those who want to push an agenda online is the draft now bots are essentially just pieces of Software Algorithms that run whatever tasks you set them and a lot of the internet runs of them however theyve also become synonymous with fake social media accounts pushing political agendas or generating artificial likes shares will fall as the days of these fully automated spam bots a mostly over their actions were simply too obvious making them easy to detect by filters which meant they got purged and easy to spot by uses which. So now literally armies of people paid to act like dogs theyre also called trolls so dicks also lundell dont know spent the military. Handle direct i mean theyre in the 2nd set of the whats going to start me on as a quintus. And telephone. Consent of quintus the truth that. They are offering you a dicks and this is the number of accounts. By 4 and in one hour do can be able to pick in this quantity over guns. Decks are the secret tools used by marketing agencies publicity manages Political Parties and governments to boost topics and people online or to divert and distract from unfavorable attention the advantage of having nice human blood says that while they behave more human on line so the chances of them being eliminated are dismissed a lot. However alerter says activity even if done by humans has an miscible characteristic and doses. Of whats going there are known to more. Races then out of the 4 of us were going to get a contest on the contest. The most grammas from the committee about. A start and then under. A lot as of old school of programmers or more sort of thrones. Said its been 10 years. Its just going to. Be neck and then on the former squad. And. Then theres a gap because for me and. All because i mean. All its done and its not to live. By the look of a. So when they heard. From elections 2 big news events to political debates decks pile on and drive online check and their alarmingly successful in skewing conversations and narratives a study by the Oxford Internet institute shows that between 20172018 the number of countries where organized social media manipulation of cars increased from 28 to 48 the biggest drivers of organized online manipulation around the world Political Parties the realisation many of them have had is that instead of trying to since the social media platforms its much more effective to simply flood them with bots junk news and decide for the nation Samantha Bradshaw was one of the researchers who worked on the group. The advertisers have used these platforms to reach new audiences and new markets but now were seeing Political Parties learn by these platforms can also be used to sway Public Opinion and so instead of selling us these goods theyre theyre selling us World Leaders or political ideologies by using the advertising infrastructure and the algorithms to slowly start nudging hurst Fact Checking opinions about politics were seeing the shift away from purely automated accounts to more human operators who are finding actual real people for hire to work on political campaigns to work with more repressive governments to target people online with this kind of speech to ultimately suppress their participation in politics and public discussion and. A lot of people dont necessarily participate and political discussions online anymore i even find myself withdrawing a little bit from commenting on politics just because of the enormous reaction that you can get and its hard to know whether or not these are real people. And you only have these views or whether theyre just a paid troll sitting far off country somewhere just designed to make me feel this way and to make me withdraw from participating in these discussions online dickson the exists to do so well because cliques have become the defector to receive the online world will become accustomed to the fact that for years the algorithms behind Facebook Twitter instagram and the others have rewarded big numbers mostly it was most comments. And mills use the rewards of groups and the lack of regulation meant that if you want to have an impact clicks a what you need to go on. The drive for clicks isnt restricted to governments political movements or marketing agencies theyre in it to shape perceptions many others are in it for the money but how do you make money Online Engagement the dot and science of keeping people looked its what keeps the online money machine chinee and so algorithms have been programmed to push content that gets high and gauge what algorithms dont necessarily determine the veracity of content theyre often more concerned with the viral video of it so if more people are engaging with a certain topic the algorithms might say like this might matter to you as well that could be you know the new avengers movie could be a new viral video about cats but it could also be something of importance such as you know a new breaking news story and this is where we see doctors trying to manipulate the popularity metric and thats why we get descent from ation stories spreading like wildfire because if there are a bunch of fake accounts online engaging with a fake breaking news story that might get pushed into the news feeds of or. Williams there is when the real people will start interacting and sharing these disinform nation stories further and further. When i see us. Im on my way now to a cut plan in central mexico in august 2 10182 men Ricardo Flores was beaten and burned to death there because people thought that they were child snatches warnings on Facebook Twitter and whatsapp had gone viral with the news that gangs of kidnappers had been picking up children and selling their organs the news wasnt true but the stereo led to the most brutal form of violence. Of their life but its on us because several one in us. He says must also does that get us it broadly must go to the various alice and sort of the local phrase walk you know spoken yes cornelius and well most a theres several more set i mean will. They actually have like im going to link with this i just voting if they were going to get them on the 4th of the good i would also spiritual so they could get a bit of sonic strength to get us where most. Of the sort of you are more mature than consent and we can. Have a video camera was there have already been there was a backyard. On the day of the attack 22 year old when hes 43 year old. Traveling together. They made a pit stop to buy a drink it happened to be near a school and with suspicion of child kidnappings in the area they became fatal targets to a mob galvanized by on mine. I meant would resign. And ill go to. Apple with. A longing yes. But our knowledge they are. By no means honest and the where this. Happened say. Gam a hall of but im not. This up and say but on one more thing where us. Army said its not a matter. Of. Fact us. For france us. And theyre not sent there by law or secondly so possibly even more shocking than the impact of this fake news is the motivation for it often ideology only plays a small part in a scam thats really all about money. The money were talking isnt small change in mexico a website can in around a 1000. 00 u. S. Dollars for every 1000000 page views every time a person lands on a page the advertising algorithm kicks in and the website starts. Creating a website isnt difficult and most times a single group of the administrators will have several on the go and whats generating around 2. 00 to 5000. 00 or more it doesnt matter if the content is real or not as long as readers flock to the site then making a buck. How do you get people to your website well thats with comes in with over 2000000000 uses its one of the most powerful distribution jews for sharing content yes you do you. Have it out but of course it is literally meant in africa news because bolton said it was from the familiar to us but to him there in england germany and there are mistakes with the guy so use him in the middle corners. Of the scene to spur him as a facebook get a person in the this is middle east or dimple but its a little notice of locals you know mentor the lynch i mean toss in a successful you learn up a little more of the style in this but its in the way life is akin to no problem unless youre not going to sort of mental enjoyment to simply look at them you know more just intent or something of that place but a fellow by him simply got the figures. But i had a clue to put it in there at the end of the way in which social media platforms to distribute all kinds of fake news or dissent from a show about politics or conspiracy theories about politics or any any other aspects of life is really really important because most people today use these platforms to find news and information and its often a trusted source of news and information not as much as traditional t. V. Or Mainstream Media but its trusted in the sense that its our friends and our family who are sharing this content and we tend to trust information that comes from people who are like minded theres all kinds of research from the field of psychology that you know talks about confirmation bias and thats why facebook can be such a powerful platform for spreading falsehoods about politics because we do inherently trust this information a little bit more than than other kinds of information getting facebook on the record isnt easy. The company is battling a lot of justifiably bad press around the world but listeria the strategic manager for news at facebook mexico did agree to meet without pay and most of us here live with us important they respect the government they run the post they are your get also know they are part of that that is the people there. But the form of focus will focus on other sources going to the platform i can look at him because then i use the most of them we have under the secrecy a name of the moochers this source is who sets it up that is it when the funds are still some of them also forgot to watch out for their calm but then. They last when the files as a facebook closest to my looks like body system will scramble him but he is getting in systemic. Responsibly that is what only a kid that is a continual bit of water logged off. Of us aside us here most of us include some of those enormous connie that yes. Most of the law here yet procure a little bit more but at the heart of the quote that i started is luis is facebooks its a pang he gave us lots of millions of fake accounts taken down and thousands of millions of spam posts cleaned up the site by Artificial Intelligence algorithms sweeping the. Trainee algorithms to recognise misinformation is incredibly complicated no wild rhythm can easily determine whats true or false after all there are cases where even human stone agree so in an effort to curb the spread of misinformation the company has begun to collaborate with external factor is. The number one project book to get more support on the other if you go to the sales are you that most clinics parables but if you got all these you could maybe because theyre going to because youre. Doing other things that a company will then do that appropriate but the form of facebook and i dont maybe flag in your news feed if it has been disputed by an independent 3rd Party Fact Checker outside of facebook exists here youll see that. Its called the needle so here we go. Yes more you see the sawdust going to the needle he is this he look at if you go google filed so bored with was the guy was. That he can see if you see he looked a little he had wished that i. Called them you put this he had with the studs. In to him it will report this little purpose why do you get more than they use is that. Good that he is from coal i see him do it when that is hes at a school and. You see this equipment that is the. Other let us see obviously this equipped to deal with. Receiving those structures look most of the responses that weve seen from the platforms just far have gone to tweaking their algorithm to how downgrades and certain kinds of december mation from being shared online were seeing Companies Like facebook or google work with fact check. Or invest in Media Literacy programs so that citizens can be a little bit more educated about how to find and challenge information that they find and discover online i dont think a lot of the changes have really addressed the heart of the issue in the real nuts and bolts of why dissent from ation goes viral in the 1st place going back to their Business Models and going back to the algorithms and the way that they still incentivize certain kinds of content to go viral. Is there is a real systemic challenge is in the way that these platforms are governed and operated operated and there hasnt been enough attention or rethinking about how these baker structure or is actually are contributing to the problem. Facebook says avoiding misuse of its services is a big priority i contacted twitter in mexico as well and they said the same thing for someone who is not just seen the misinformation was online but actually food in them these if its by the social media platforms a little more than window dressing the former assistant assumed the order lesson this bluegrass if they look to and look what extent in them which up but assume the lesson that was made use if youre going to assume the sellers because they got so little because she put out this in this at the when the rodeo. Normally did in. Leprosy on the one hand theres an eskimo your its just to go that is some of. Its a part of the cup its your number but also looking in the gospel from him up with them which one youre going to get are several mature particularly if you know livers portfolio. With billions of pieces of content being uploaded to the internet every single day its no surprise that tackling online manipulation is such a challenge digital deception is now a global game so no matter how many pages of blogs sort of tweaks to the algorithm that might happen nothings going to actually change until after clicks a scene is more than just insurance and revenue generators in an internet environment where engagement and clicks and viral 80 s what drives the spread of content i dont think its fair to cut users off the hook in this problem because democracy is something thats hard work at something that we as citizens have to work towards and invest time and to find Accurate Information and not something thats easy you know the real power in the internet is that it can bring us together and we weve seen not time and time again so going back to that more often mystic view of what the internet can and could be for a Democratic Society and political participation and i think its something we need to remind ourselves of and work towards as individuals. So i was going to go home to. Thinking about some of these Big Questions around social media democracy and what it means to be not only a user of technology but a citizen in our digital public sphere the 1st thing i would do is request all of the data about me from these big social media platforms from twitter from google its really important that we have an insight into actually how vast this Data Collection system is and how to ensure and how details this kind of information can actually be about us and i think thats one of the 1st real eye opening things users are are shocked by the fact that these platforms might have conversation and your private message as the fact that they might have even accessed the phone number is on your found if you install the facebook app these are these are really big question and underlying all of the Big Questions around social media democracy is are our right to privacy and what that actually means in the digital age. When said we since used. To be said. If we got it was it wasnt the suppose its either your community crucial. Role sort of. These 2 we enlist the call did you. See this. Look at that. They must see a lawyer but the because he that must seattle where the. Experts see what i see the scale. Maybe youll see it. Maybe a little so youll have to go without. Me and you have this little thing says he. Believes plame which was. The guy who merely by the siegel. But he. Was the savior. In a canyon i want to. Look at them in. A familiar. On the. Border and on the top of just a mattress or less. On a yes. Or no youre going just going circles. On. You know. Them you know. But you have this mean with. Them in circles for 90 minutes from them or sold to us on us. On the. Walls for mustard on the skin of the cement and. Some of us look about the next year. I can im lost my phone with my face you can access your bank account with your voice unique algorithmic measurements of us that are revolutionizing the process of identification the biometrics are far from perfect convenience and seeming infallibility comes at a cops most crucially our privacy. From the force of a far far series i dont really address is the appropriation of our most personal characteristics all hail the algorithm on a 0. Progress. Or a serious mistake. Fishel intelligence is slowly invading every aspect of our love. But very few of us really understand its capabilities for better or was. In a new documentary ill just 0 explores the impact of they are accessing vast amounts of our personal data data land coming soon the plundering of armenias natural riches has uprooted residence and desecrated the habitat of some of europes most inventors species. But a Remarkable Campaign by local residents is challenging the miked of the countrys investors and pinning high hopes on its newly elected Prime Minister people in power investigates armenia mining out the left. On a 0 on counting the cost the coronavirus and its impact on the gas market spending billions of dollars to save trillions later from new york to get caught so we look at the cost of rising sea levels the oceans warm up divers improve our risk little. Congo the gulf on aljazeera. Aljazeera. Every. This is al jazeera im dating obligato with a check on your world headlines chinas foreign minister has accused some countries of causing panic over the corona Virus Outbreak yang we made the comments in the german capital is a big drop in the number of new infections was reported by Health Officials inside china there were just over 2600 recorded on friday a little over half the previous day the death toll has now passed 1500 a germ brown is in hong kong and he says if accurate and the figures from Chinas HealthCommission Show a positive development this information these statistics coming from Chinas Health commission and you always have to be careful i think with