The UN, European Commission or Governments of France and the United Kingdom also use the NewsWhip application. It’s predictive analytics.
O Government confirms that he bought the services of NewsWhip, but he guarantees that he is not monitoring journalists.
At issue is a contract worth practically 40 thousand euros between the General Secretariat of the Government and the Irish company NewsWhip. The contract began in March and lasts until March 2027.
The tool is used to monitoring simultaneous multiple digital platforms, including social networks and online media. Uses predictive models and performance metrics to evaluate indicators such as company growth interactions, patterns of viralization e range content potential.
Although you can create lists of journalists with greater media repercussion (following criteria such as production volume and reach of its news), the Government rejects the idea of controlling journalists.
In a statement, the General Secretariat of the Government “reject liminarily” that serves for “the cataloging and monitoring of journalists or from general surveillance”.
The Government explains: “What is at stake is a tool for searching open sources and public content, a type of clipping modern, that meets all legal requirements, such as the General Data Protection Regulation [RGPD]allowing us to monitor major trends in opinion expressed on public policy topics”.
The General Secretariat of the Government contracted the tool but the government offices do not have access; and recalls that it supports political decisions and monitors the Government’s governmental action – these functions involve, among other things, “the research and verification of statistical data and the analysis of the impact on Portuguese society of the different measures adopted”.
It is an “advanced digital platform predictive analysis”, based on artificial intelligence (AI).
The statement also recalls that the governments of France and the United Kingdom, the United Nations, Amnesty International, the European Commission and the World Health Organization also use NewsWhip.
And, even within one’s own social communication, There are those who have hired the tool: BBC, Washington Post and New York Times. Or even Público, here.
