The report states that the current 'trends' seen on social media may not be real voices but rather 'engineered popularity', which is fundamentally weakening democracy.
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According to the Commission of Inquiry, Nepal is losing a war today, the defeat of which has not been announced anywhere because this war is peaceful, dignified and comfortable. The main factor or its commander-in-chief of this war is the ‘algorithm’, the commission’s report states.
Although Nepal appears to be an independent country, its citizens are not free in thought and action, the report has made it clear that this prison is not made by walls but by people's preferences.
'In today's Nepal, which political issues are raised and which are suppressed/not shown is being decided by algorithmic selection, not by any argument or debate,' the report says on page 633, 'due to this, democracy is being weakened from the ground up.'
The report has pointed out that the most used and carried out attack in Nepal is 'digital proxy war'. Stating that while weapons and bullets can kill the body, wrong ideas and information can control an entire generation, the report has described the poison of information as a powerful and deadly tool among the millions of users of social media. The report concludes that it has become a means of not only spreading lies but also distracting people, increasing hatred among each other and breaking mutual trust.
The report states that algorithms are acting as the backbone of the digital age and that they are micromanaging what users see, hear and form opinions. ‘Algorithms are not concerned with what is true ? What is false; they are concerned with engagement rather than truth,’ the report states, ‘In Nepal, the influence of non-state actors or tech companies and algorithms has begun to affect all sectors, due to which power is gradually shifting from the state to the hands of tech powers .’
