FREEDOM ON THE NET 2024 The Struggle for Trust Online messages. In Taiwan, for example, fashion and makeup influencers posted false claims about vote rigging ahead of the country’s January 2024 elections. The claims mirrored an influence campaign originating in China that aimed to discourage voting in Taiwan. The purveyors of false and misleading information have adapted to a proliferation of platforms and their varying policies and practices on content moderation. As a given narrative pinballs across different video-, image-, and textbased applications, mitigation measures carried out by any single company have less effect. Companies that have grown their user base significantly in recent years, such as Twitch, are playing catch-up when it comes to countering false and misleading information at scale. Others, like Telegram, have become breeding grounds for such campaigns because of their explicitly hands-off approach to content moderation. Research has also pointed to a rise in false, misleading, and hateful content on X after the company drastically relaxed its approach to content moderation, cut staffing on a number of teams, and introduced other concerning policies. Freedom on the Net 2023 documented the early adoption of generative AI as a means of distorting narratives on political and social topics. During this coverage period, generative AI was frequently used to create false and misleading content. Ahead of Rwanda’s July 2024 elections, a network of accounts spread AI-generated messages and images in support of incumbent president Paul Kagame. Chatbot models offered by major tech companies also spewed inaccurate or partially accurate information about registering to vote, voting by mail, or other procedures in several elections, demonstrating how poorly they are equipped to provide high-quality election information. However, generative AI does not yet seem to have dramatically enhanced the impact of influence operations. Available evidence from civil society, academia, and Content manipulation campaigns attempted to delegitimize electoral institutions, intimidate election officials, or falsely claim that electoral processes were rigged in the opposition’s favor. 10 @freedomonthenet media investigations suggests that generative AI–assisted disinformation campaigns have had a minimal impact on electoral outcomes. OpenAI reported in May that the company had disrupted attempts by actors linked to China, Iran, Israel, and Russia to use ChatGPT as a component in more conventional influence campaigns, which failed to generate much reach or engagement. It takes time for governments and those they employ to effectively incorporate new techniques into influence operations, and generative AI is just one of many tools at their disposal. There is also a major research gap in terms of detecting these campaigns in general and identifying their use of generative AI specifically, limiting public knowledge on the impact of the technology. Sowing doubt in the integrity of elections Disinformation campaigns during the coverage period commonly broadcast false and misleading narratives that painted electoral institutions and processes as rigged, alleged foreign interference, or in the most authoritarian states, claimed that a fraudulent election was legitimate. While such campaigns are partisan by definition, their effect extends beyond a particular candidate or party, causing voters to distrust the outcome of the balloting itself. Left unchecked, they seed long-lasting skepticism or even cynicism about elections and can undermine public trust in democratic institutions over time. Several campaigns over the past year attempted to delegitimize electoral institutions, intimidate election officials, or falsely claim that electoral processes were rigged in the opposition’s favor. In Zimbabwe, supporters of the ruling party harassed independent election observers during the August 2023 elections, maligning them as biased against the government. Ahead of Serbia’s December 2023 elections, progovernment tabloids published false and misleading information about the opposition and independent media, including a fake video purporting to show the political opposition buying votes. These campaigns disproportionately target women who play a prominent role in political processes. In South Africa, a fusillade of online attacks was directed at electoral commission member Janet Love, with many accusing her of rigging the vote; the attacks largely came from supporters of Jacob Zuma, a former president who sought to delegitimize the commission as part of his effort to stage a political comeback in the May 2024 elections. Narratives asserting that politicians were influenced by foreign interests were also common. Fueled in part by #FreedomOnTheNet