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

By Guy Berger, Professor Emeritus, Rhodes University, 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 a massive international asymmetry in access to data.

In the European Union and the US, some progress has been made. For example, EU researchers studying risks have a legal right of access. In…

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