We hear a lot about groups creating social media accounts to influence discourse, and these groups should be made to shut down when they’re full of prejudice, discrimination and hostility, which is a crime.
And these pages and groups are the tools Facebook misinformation peddlers love the most, and people are creating a network of anonymous pages, which is the easiest way to quickly spread fake news or propaganda on the social network.
Facebook has of course taken down a cohort of deceptive pages linked to fraudulent news, and the social network has changed its policies, but it appears this is still not enough, and there should be better methods to crack down on these pages and groups.
Facebook has historically played Whac-a-Mole when it comes to systems of dishonest pages, even when they’re run by the same person, and if a troll runs two fake news pages but only one of them violates Facebook’s policies, the company can’t take down the other until it infringes the rules as well.
The fact is propaganda on social media is being used to mould public opinion around the globe, and not in a good way, and lies, garbage and misinformation of traditional propaganda is extensive online and is supported by Facebook or Twitter’s algorithms.
At their simpler end, techniques are used to include automated accounts to like, share and post on social networks.
Such accounts can serve as game algorithms to promote content on to curated social feeds, and they can drown out real, reasoned debate between humans in favour of a social network populated by argument and soundbites, and they can simply make online measures of support, such as the number of likes, look more generous, which is essential in creating the image of popularity.
And some of these groups intentionally distribute fraudulent news, deceptions, propaganda and disinformation purporting to be real news, often using social media to drive web traffic and increase their effectiveness.
If you define this, this is bogus news on the internet to intentionally invent and mislead browsers, and this misleading information that’s going viral online is one of the biggest menaces faced by society.
Bogus news has been around for numerous years, but with the explosion of the internet and social media, it’s getting more difficult to know what can and can’t be believed.
Human beings are pretty social creatures, and we tend to need the company of others to thrive in life, and the strength of our connections has an enormous impact on our mental health and happiness.
Being socially connected to others can relieve stress, anxiety, and depression, increase self-worth, provide comfort and joy, prevent isolation, and even add years to your life. On the flip side, lacking strong social connections can pose a serious risk to your mental and emotional well-being.
But social media can also promote negative experiences such as cyberbullying, prejudice, bias and discrimination, with many users being subjected to hateful comments, and can be hotspots for spreading hurtful rumours, lies and abuse that can leave permanent emotional scars.
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, LinkedIn are ways that connect people on social media and which is limitless, but we shouldn’t let our online life negatively impact our real lives, and social media should NEVER be used to browbeat others, and posting snarky or mean comments is a major no-no because it’s just hurtful and it drags dirty laundry out into the open.
And as we engage on social media with greater regularity, we find ourselves sifting through photos of children, commentary about food, and critical responses on current affairs, but this increased media usage and exposure poses a question, how accurate is this information we’re getting, and more importantly, how honest are people on social media sites?
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 