"The nature of elections has been transformed by the rise of digital technologies in the last few years, in large part due to the rise of social media platforms and their impact on election campaigning, dissemination of informationand opinion formation. Furthermore, digital technologies have been em
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ployed in the administration of elections, and are being adopted by electoral management bodies. This article seeks to understand these transformations in light of ongoing debates regarding the regulation of elections and digital technologies by positing an approach focused on international human rights frameworks." (Abstract)
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"The first major collection of its kind published in the COVID-19 era, this unique volume frames a wide range of issues relevant to the gender and communication agenda within a human rights framework.An international panel of feminist academics and activists examines how media, information, and comm
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unication systems contribute to enabling, ignoring, questioning, or denying women's human and communication rights. Divided into four parts, the Handbook covers governance and policy, systems and institutions, advocacy and activism, and content, rights, and freedoms. Throughout the text, the contributors demonstrate the need for strong feminist critiques of exclusionary power structures, highlight new opportunities and challenges in promoting change, illustrate both the risks and rewards associated with digital communication, and much more." (Publisher description)
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"Content moderation at scale is an extremely complicated issue, however by looking at specific examples such as the case studies and data highlighted in this study, the conversation can start to take into account more diverse experiences and context that is normally overlooked. Emerging from these e
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xperiences are recommendations for reform and structural change reflected in focus group discussions and demands by activists in the region, some of which are reproduced below. 1. Over-reliance on automated systems should be revised in light of issues emerging from non-English speaking markets. The failure of these systems to adequately account for context should be reason enough to fundamentally revise systems and protocols underpinning them. 2. Dedicating more resources to human-based content moderation in non-Western contexts. The disparity of material resources between countries considered “key economies” and the “rest of the world” is startling and has resulted in enormous challenges for societies and political structures elsewhere [...] 3. Radical transparency by tech platforms regarding the ways in which content moderation policies are formulated and implemented should be high on the priority of digital platforms [...] 4. Content moderation decisions are often one-sided, with little recource for users who are aggrieved by the decisions, both for false positives or inaction by platforms. Meta's Oversight Board is a positive start but the model only impacts select cases. There needs to be a robust and time-responsive system for appeals that provides users with complete information regarding content moderation decisions and responsive action on appeals. 5. Content moderation decisions by tech platforms, and inaction in equal measure, have resulted in tangible real-world harms in the past and present." (Conclusion, page 23-24)
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"Through these mediations on gendered disinformation, and the variety of perspectives that the authors bring, we call into question hegemonic structures of knowledge production. The anthology forces us to call into question the very idea of objectivity, blurring lines between 'truth' and 'lies'. The
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report contains experiences where women have been harmed equally by untrue information, half-truths and narratives that reflect deep-seated biases rather than deliberate lies. For the discourse on gendered disinformation to encompass all these experiences requires a larger contemplation on what we mean by 'objective truth'. (Contribution of report, page 4)
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