“When in the hands of dictators, algorithms can be invisible prisons”, warns Reporters Without Borders

“When in the hands of dictators, algorithms can be invisible prisons”, alert Wednesday, May 3 on France Inter Christophe Deloire, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders, while the NGO has just published its 21st edition of the world ranking of press freedom. Reporters Without Borders is alarmed by the spread of disinformation, made possible in particular by new technologies. According to Christophe Deloire, “today, the functioning of artificial intelligence takes no account of veracity since we are simply on the business of probability; however, probability is not the truth”.

“The enemies of journalism are many”

Christopher Deloire

on France Inter

Christophe Deloire warns against “the many enemies of journalism” today, referring “dictators, authoritarian regimes, mafia, drug traffickers, crooked politicians, individuals or social groups hostile to journalism. (…) But today, an ecosystem promotes all this and is linked to the development of the simulacrum industry, the disinformation industry”. For Reporters Without Borders, these “technological means make it possible to disseminate the false, to present it for the true, to amplify the rumors, the propaganda” and their “intensity is unprecedented”.

The secretary general of RSF calls into question “the power of Twitter boss Elon Musk who can decide to change his algorithm and amplify misinformation”. He also mentions the case “of companies that can create fake accounts with an insane scale”. But what particularly worries Christophe Deloire is the ability of certain States to “have technological means to carry out propaganda”. “Whether it’s Moscow or Beijing, great dictatorships don’t just control the minds of their citizens with brainwashing”, he laments. He warns of the desire of “these two countries to export their propaganda content and their information control model” beyond their borders.