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In Repressive Countries, Citizens Go ‘Dark’ to Share Independent News

This document explores how the blind spot, dubbed “dark social,” originates when visitors arrive from links shared by email, text, or private messaging applications. Analytics firms begin to shine a light onto the dark spots of referral data, they are learning that these invisible, peer-to-peer forms of sharing news are far more important than previously understood, kindling further consideration among publishers of how to harness messaging platforms such as WhatsApp and Telegram for distribution.