Daily: Weapons of Mass Distraction - Inside Tek Fog

Imagine an app able to dictate social media trends at the click of a button. Digital researcher Ayushman Kaul talks to Alex Andreou about ‘Tek Fog’ – software he reports can do exactly that. They discuss corrosive impacts already seen in India, tracked in a nearly two-year long investigation for The Wire, and worrying implications for democracies the world over.

• “Operators who use this app can manipulate social media trends en-mass, including on Facebook and Twitter.”
• “There is a global industry emerging in this grey space between tech and politics, where disinformation for profit services are being offered.”
• “Using platforms like Tek Fog, you can target people in a way that you could never target them before.”
• “I wish there was a silver bullet to cure this disinformation epidemic that we’re facing.”

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Presented by Alex Andreou. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Lead Producer: Jacob Jarvis. Producers: Jacob Archbold, Jelena Sofronijevic and Alex Rees. Audio production by Robin Leeburn. THE BUNKER is a Podmasters Production

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