[kictanet] Of Bots and Trolls and how an election can be won

[Kevin Kamonye]

Good morning Ali,

The era of the citizen hoping to be protected by the government clearly
ended a long while ago.

As regards to the way forward, it is encouraging that Zuckerberg has
initiated significant changes at Facebook. This was done at great risk to
their revenues making it all the more commendable. Google initiated major
changes almost immediately after the US election. Twitter cannot afford to
start the fight against bots and trolls because they are still struggling
to produce profits.

This is where the issue is. Should we continue to rely on these companies
to self regulate?

What about government regulation? Recent events in Kenya for instance have
just confirmed that the option of Government regulation is a complete and
absolute NO. I almost regret supporting the ICT practitioners Bill because
I naively thought that we are now at a level where our institutions can be
allowed to operate independently.

The other option and the most ideal to me is that we as the users of these
platforms need to do our part. If something looks off, we need to raise
awareness and push for the change that is required. We cannot always defer
all the hard work to others and then expect them not to ever take advantage.

Regards,

Kevin

On 19 February 2018 at 07:46, Ali Hussein via kictanet <
kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

> Listers
>
> The world of disinformation and propaganda will never be the same again.
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6371205869262245888
>
> What is interesting here is that the perpetrators are state players. How
> do you regulate and curb such behavior when the very authorities supposed
> to protect citizens are the ones perpetrating the crimes?
>
> *Ali Hussein*
> *Principal*
> *Hussein & Associates*
> +254 0713 601113
>
> Twitter: @AliHKassim
>
> Skype: abu-jomo
>
> LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim
>
> "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a
> habit."  ~ Aristotle
>
>
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