In contemporary society, there has been an explosion of propaganda due to the rise of social media. The fabric of democracy has been tampered with and undermined due to a boom of fake news articles. Fake news has been used as an instrument to manipulate the decisions of the public. This can be seen on social media where "echo chambers" or "filter bubbles" have been created, where users become subjected to information that only suits their particular viewpoint and they do not listen to contrary opinions.
The spread of propaganda on social media has had dangerous implications for elections in the past. In the 2016 United States presidential elections, it was alleged that there may have been Russian interference. There were reports which insinuated that Facebook may have been used as a platform to spread misinformation. Cambridge Analytica was a company that specialised in using data from social media to target users, based on their preferences. Due to Facebook’s complicity in the uninformed collection of 87 million Facebook user profiles, they were embroiled in controversy. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, was called to testify before Congress and the company received a multi-billion dollar fine.
Algorithms are developed to differentiate between real and fake news but human intervention is also important. Social media platforms usually have different teams of workers, whose sole purpose is to stop the spread of misinformation but in many cases, there has been widespread failure on the part of these tech companies to regulate content. This has proven dangerous in the past where fake news has been shared online, then reposted by other users in what is termed as the “multiplicative effect”. Fake news can reach as many eyes as reputable media outlets such as CNN or the New York Times. 62 percent of Americans get their news from social media, according to a recent study.
In Myanmar 2018, Facebook allowed its platform to be used to spread misinformation and did little to stop it. Facebook entered Myanmar amid a prolonged period of political unrest and repression, and the country had just come out of a military dictatorship. A large majority of the population is still unable to use the internet properly and so cannot differentiate between real and fake news. In non-English speaking countries, fake news is propagated even more since social media companies do not speak the required language. When they enter foreign markets, it is on social media companies to be more responsible in their approach to tackling fake news.
On the other hand, people may question where the line should be drawn between fake news and free speech.
The issue of censorship arises from this. Should social media companies add more regulations?
Recently, Facebook has come under scrutiny for its role in censoring a controversial expose on Joe Biden's son, during the 2020 US presidential elections. Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, admitted to censoring any related news to the story while appearing on a podcast.
In conclusion, the debate between censorship and freedom of speech remains but most people feel that there should be more regulation of information on social media so that hate speech and propaganda are not allowed to dictate or influence users.
Translate in another language
#10 When Social Media Breeds Propaganda
Examining social media as a tool for information manipulation.
