South Africa: Govt Surveillance of Social Media Is Rife. Guess Who's Selling Your Data?

analysis

If you are tweeting or posting about a "security threat", law enforcement can fish you out of the ocean of the world's 2.6-billion social media users. Using special surveillance software, they can gather posts from platforms to identify you, and walk right up to your front door.

Governments buy this data from surveillance companies, who in turn buy it from social media companies. But security threats are what governments decide them to be. These include certain protesters, non-profits and journalists. In a country where intelligence services are known to commit corrupt surveillance practices, can the law protect us from misuse?

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