Social media's forever war

The 2016 US election was the Pearl Harbour of the social media age - a singular act of aggression ushered in a new era of perpetual conflict in a global 'information war'.

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A year ago, in his annual New Year's resolution post, Mr Mark Zuckerberg pledged to spend 2018 fixing Facebook by addressing foreign manipulation, election interference and other threats.

The Facebook CEO and other tech leaders should probably renew that vow for next year and 2020, and possibly every year after that.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 19, 2018, with the headline Social media's forever war. Subscribe