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Mali ( down one to 114th ), continue to tighten their grip on the media and obstruct journalists ’ work . Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’ s reelection in Türkiye is also a source of some concern : ranked 158th , the country ’ s placement in the Index continues to lose points .
In the absence of regulation , the use of generative AI in the arsenal of disinformation for political purposes is a concern . Deepfakes now occupy a leading position in influencing the course of elections . This was evidenced by the audio deepfake of the journalist Monika Todova during the parliamentary elections in Slovakia ( down 12 to 29th ), one of the first documented cases of this type of attack on a journalist with the aim of influencing the outcome of a democratic election .
Many governments have stepped up their control over social media and the Internet , restricting access , blocking accounts , and suppressing messages carrying news and information . Journalists who say what they think on social media in Vietnam ( 174th ) are almost systematically locked up . In China ( 172nd ), in addition to detaining more journalists than any other country in the world , the government continues to exercise strict control over information channels , implementing censorship and surveillance policies to regulate online content and restrict the spread of information deemed to be sensitive or contrary to the party line . Both India and Nepal have blocked social media such as TikTok , while many others monitor content . This directly affects many travelling bloggers , Instagrammers , YouTubers and many other digital creators . A recent case was that of Australian couple who were documenting their travels around the world , the pair were detained for months in Iraq .
Some political groups fuel hatred and distrust of journalists by insulting them , discrediting them , and threatening them . Others are orchestrating a takeover of the media ecosystem , whether through stateowned media under their control , or privately owned media via acquisitions by allied businessmen . Giorgia Meloni ’ s Italy ( 46th ) – where a member of the ruling parliamentary coalition is trying to acquire the second biggest news agency ( AGI ) – has fallen five places this year .
Political groups often serve as channels of dissemination , or even instigators of disinformation campaigns . In more than three quarters of the countries evaluated in the Index ( 138 countries ), the majority of the questionnaire respondents reported that political actors in their countries were often involved in propaganda or disinformation campaigns . This involvement was described as “ systematic ” in 31 countries .
In Eastern Europe and Central Asia , media censorship
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