Social media manipulation by political actors an industrial scale problem

[littlemissmartypants]

Social media manipulation by political actors an industrial scale problem - Oxford report
ResearchSocial Sciences

Social media manipulation of public opinion is a growing threat to democracies around the world, according to the 2020 media manipulation survey from the Oxford Internet Institute, which found evidence in every one of the 80+ countries surveyed.

Organised social media manipulation campaigns were found in each of the 81 surveyed countries, up 15% in one year, from 70 countries in 2019. Governments, public relations firms and political parties are producing misinformation on an industrial scale, according to the report. It shows disinformation has become a common strategy, with more than 93% of the countries (76 out of 81) seeing disinformation deployed as part of political communication.

Professor Philip Howard, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute, and the report’s co-author says, ‘Our report shows misinformation has become more professionalised and is now produced on an industrial scale. Now, more than ever, the public needs to be able to rely on trustworthy information about government policy and activity. Social media companies need to raise their game by increasing their efforts to flag misinformation and close fake accounts without the need for government intervention, so the public has access to high-quality information.’

"Social media companies need to raise their game by increasing their efforts to flag misinformation and close fake accounts without the need for government intervention, so the public has access to high-quality information"

~Professor Philip Howard

Snip...more...
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2021-01-13-social-media-manipulation-political-actors-industrial-scale-problem-oxford-report

❤️pants

[peregrinus]

1. I noticed this trend in Facebook

Type in your local city or the town you grew up in on Facebook. There will be “remember when” or “I grew up in…” groups for every major locale. What I noticed is that these groups are popular but there is always a splinter group that peels off and forms a group of disgruntled members from the first group. They’ll claim the first popular group stifles free speech and the 1st amendment and they will mirror the popular group. However inevitably the mirror groups are all filled with MAGAts spewing liberal hate, misogyny or whatever the 2 minutes of hate is for that day. Seen it in several different locations. I think it’s a coordinated effort.

[MomInTheCrowd]

3. This is accurate. I see it too- multiple locals, same "complaint" for splintering

[paleotn]

2. Social media needs to clean up their act, but we also need to up our game

Average folks have rarely if ever taken to heart the old adage Poe helped popularize...

“You are young yet, my friend,” replied my host, “but the time will arrive when you will learn to judge for yourself of what is going on in the world, without trusting to the gossip of others. Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.

Poe short story, "The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether"

Confirmation bias is easier and tough to overcome. Critical thinking is our greatest national deficit.

[littlemissmartypants]

7. I'm confused...

Because the earliest iterations of Social Media, sometimes referred to as #SoMe, were originally created for the populace to connect before it was hijacked by capitalists/oligarchs, the overall dregs of society and "special interests" of various stripes.

My point being that it's not really by or for the people as it was intended and the people currently using particular platforms would have to personally, individually "clean up their act" before there would be any meaningful changes.

I believe that if you were to examine Bluesky closely, for example, you might see reasons for more optimism.

I strongly endorse critical thinking. But I also try to discourage knee-jerk reactions when appropriate and especially when those reactions are easily deferred to prior to any deep thinking in our current society.

Patience doesn't seem to be much of a virtue anymore. Especially, in the world of likes, monetization for clicks, driven by instant gratification in this newly evolved "throw-away society" we find ourselves living in today.

Thanks for your reply, paleotn.❤️

[paleotn]

8. 100% agree.

All the high minded stuff went straight out the window just as soon as the tech bros discovered they could make a bundle off it. Now social media has the veracity and decency of a restroom wall. And that's how it makes money. Outrageous draws eyeballs. Conformation bias drives views and profits. May have been different had it had come of age in a time when regulation was viewed as public good. Instead, we got a weird mix of 1984 and Brave New World.

[Nittersing]

4. How do we tamp down misinformation when we allow faux news et al to continue? nt

[2naSalit]

5. K&R

[Snarkoleptic]

6. The UK sleepwalked into BREXIT, largely due to social media manipulation.

Same thing happened here w/ tRump's 2016 (s)election.
Facebook and Xwitter are both loaded with mind-fucks.