A new report[pdf] by Freedom House indicates that the social media accounts of 89% of all Internet users around the globe are actively being monitored by their country’s government. This comes down to about 3 billion people in China and at least 39 other countries that “have instituted advanced social media surveillance programs.”
Online surveillance programs are now mostly automated, relying on tools that use artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the relations between individuals, assess their opinions and attitudes and look for data to determine “past, present, or future locations.” Mass surveillance is especially common in countries like China and Russia as well as across Africa, the Middle East and South East Asia. However, it also occurs in varying degrees in North America and Europe.
Read more: Your Social Media Is (Probably) Being Watched Right Now, Says New Surveillance Report
