> I think it's potentially naive to think that governments won't be able to wield social networks even more effectively than "freedom fighters".

That exact thing is happening. The Reply All podcast did an excellent piece on the dominant political party in Mexico using armies of people on Twitter - not bots, but people - to drown out news they didn't like, and eventually, to harass people. Show, with full transcript: https://gimletmedia.com/episode/112-the-prophet/