Propaganda Power: LJ6
Part 1: This weeks reading has done a good job explaining how, if in the wrong hands, the internet and social media can be a powerful and dangerous resource. As explained in our textbook, "Social media communication" by Lipschultz, Jeremy Harris (2020), " Professor Gabrial Weinmann brought up a time where two Palestinians made videos. One with homemade explosives and the other explaining how to make a bomb" (p. 237). Another instance that Lipschultz brought up in the reading was about how "Senator Joseph Lieberman Complained to google about the existence of YouTube videos posted by the terrorist groups, such as Al-Qaeda" (p.237). These exemplify how the freedom of social media and the internet have been misused and causes for ethical guidelines and laws. The United Kingdom have done a good job with trying to have guidelines and laws with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for prosecution of social media communication, which is an attempt at "balancing between protecting individuals and allowing freedom of speech" (p. 239). The CPS has a list of guidelines that explain that if something someone posts or communicates with another is threatening and they have evidence to prove its credibility, then that individual can be prosecuted. I believe this is a good start in an ethical stance because freedom of speech can be taken to another level that should not be acceptable.
This weeks reading has made me think deeper on how governments control what is being posted on social media. I was aware of some type of monitoring of internet and social media use, but was not aware of how it was done. The most recent case that I have heard of that is very similar to the use of social media is the government monitoring game chats and how they discovered that the Cartel were recruiting people on a game know as Grand theft auto 5. That case had me thinking that even though it does go against the first amendment, sometimes it is for the greater good. If people were able to say whatever they wanted without anyone being alarmed or knowing, terrorist groups or anyone with bad intentions could coordinate and plan terrible things unnoticed until it would be to late.
Part 2: Social media lies and propaganda tie in very close with each other. Propaganda has been around before I was even born and is a big role in politics. It is used to persuade someone to lean towards a side of an argument or political side. Propaganda is a brilliant tactic to get people to stand with you. Social media lies combine the use of propaganda, with less limitations. As stated by Hunt Allcott and Matthew Gentzkow in Social media and Fake News in the 2016 election, "Content can be posted at any time on a social media with no significant third party filtering, fact-checking, or editorial judgment" (p.211). With no one watching over a social media post, an already twisted propaganda post can become more corrupted, as anyone can post anything and make it more dramatic and less true that it would normally be. I personally am not a fan of politics, let alone propaganda, but I do keep up with politics and I prefer to do my own research on political topics.
I believe that propaganda is a smart tactic but I do not support it especially when posted on social media. I believe that Propaganda and social media lies have the highest effect on a bigger portion of the less educated people but not all. The less educated an individual is, the more unwilling that person will be to do outside research or even second guess what they see or read on social media. In the article Social media, Cognitive reflection, and conspiracy beliefs by Dominik A. Stecula and Mark Pickup, The explained how "The use of Facebook increases the conspiracy belief among those with lower cognitive reflection"(Stecula & Pickup 2021). They even explained that the higher the cognitive reflection of an individual, the less of a conspiracy belief. Even so, being educated does not mean one can be ignorant. After reading Post-truth and Far-right politics on social media by Hüseyin Pusat Kildiş, I realized that I did not know how deep politics can be when it comes to the social media platform. Kildiş stated that "Some conspiracy theories, such as QAnon, have lead to kidnappings and murders". That article alone changed my view on how I see the influence on propaganda and Internet lies. A lot of people believe what they see with a tunnel vision stance. The article makes me want to dig deeper into conspiracy theories and what makes people believe so much into them. Some times I would argue in the comments of a post about something political, but now I do not see the point. The article shows that people will believe something so much that the other side is wrong no matter what or even evil. I chose not to argue with people anymore even if I know they are wrong.
Bibliography
Lipschultz, J. H. (2020). Social Media Communication: Concepts, practices, data, Law and Ethics (3rd ed.). Routledge.
Allcott, Hunt, and Matthew Gentzkow. 2017. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31 (2): 211-36.
Stecula DA and Pickup M (2021) Social Media, Cognitive Reflection, and Conspiracy Beliefs. Front. Polit. Sci. 3:647957. doi: 10.3389/fpos.2021.647957
Kildiş, H. P. (2020, November 17). Post-truth and far-right politics on social media. E. Retrieved March 19, 2022, from https://www.e-ir.info/2020/11/17/post-truth-and-far-right-politics-on-social-media/
I agree that propaganda and lies on the internet are a huge issue, and the quote from Kildiş, about how these can lead to kidnappings and killings, made me think of something. People are much more willing to act against people from the internet. Whether it be cyberbullying or Swatting (calling a SWAT team on someone online when they haven't done anything wrong), the anonymity of the internet helps encourage people to act dangerously and without concern towards other people. I feel like this phenomenon interplays with the propagation of internet lies and propaganda in a bad way. With people more likely to accept things online, they are more likely to believe in lies, and these misguided beliefs lead them to want to act against others in retribution, with the anonymity of the internet pushing them to go to extremes they otherwise wouldn't have considered.
ReplyDeleteHi Demarko, I agree that an already twisted propaganda post can become even more twisted due to the accessibility of the internet and social media. People are often too quick to believe what they see and it is ultimately our downfall because even if a post is removed how many people had already seen the post and taken a screenshot of it before it was taken down. On top of that, even if a post is removed many people will think that person was being silenced because they were sharing information that we were not supposed to know when in fact it just wasn't true in the slightest. Also, I agree that fake news and propaganda are meant to deceive the most gullible people although there are a lot of them out there. It often is not even these people's fault it is just they simply do not know any better they just assume everything they read is true. I also liked how you mentioned that people believe what they see with a tunnel vision stance because it perfectly describes those who believe fake news. Once these people latch onto the idea that the fake news or propaganda they read is true it is very difficult to sway them from that opinion. I think one reason for this is that we search for information that fits well with what we already know and believe (Menczer & Hills, 2020). People will believe whatever fits best with what they want to believe and already know because it is easier to explain and understand regardless of whether it is the truth or not. Overall, similarly to you before reading the articles this week I had no idea how serious fake news and propaganda were and the consequences they could result in such as kidnapping and murder however I am glad I have been exposed to the brutal truth of fake news. Also, I thoroughly enjoyed your post and look forward to reading more from you in the future, have a great week!
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Menczer, F. & Hills, T. (2020, December 1). Information Overload Helps Fake News Spread, and Social Media Knows It. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/information-overload-helps-fake-news-spread-and-social-media-knows-it/
Demarko, Your post was very informative. I feel as if I gained a deeper insight of the issue on propaganda by tuning in to your blogspot. As if, propaganda wasn't an issue before the wide spread use of the internet. It's unfortunate how creators of these advertisements prey on the less informed. It's similar to the push of products to consumers with false promises of results. For example, a supplements in the fitness industry. These are pushed to those desperate for a change in physique, promising unrealistic goals. Its target is to those who are uneducated in the health and fitness world.
ReplyDeleteHi Demarko! I agree that while propaganda is smart in terms of strategy, it can be used for some very horrendous things. According to Bond (2022), companies don't want to let Russia use their platforms to amplify propaganda and disinformation. But on the other hand, they want to make sure their tools remain available in both Russia and Ukraine, because they are some of the few ones that activists have in order to organize and to get their messages out that are not controlled by the Russian government (p.6-7). With the current Russia-Ukraine conflict going on, propaganda is playing a very important role in shaping how the crisis is viewed in various countries. It is being used to further the political agenda of Putin especially.
ReplyDeleteHi Demarko,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that arguing online, especially concerning politics, is a useless endeavor. The most you can hope for is that you plant a seed of an idea into someone else's head, but mostly it is completely pointless. Most people are steadfast in what they believe when it comes to politics and other similar subjects, and discussions just basically amount to everyone wanting to ensure that their opinions are heard.
Hey Demarko,
ReplyDeleteI think that your view on propaganda being a big part of politics is correct because during campaigning season all you see are ads that say sponsored by X member.
Hi Demarko,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that social media lies and progranda creates a high effect for less educated people. This does create the possibility that it is less likely that people will continue research on their own. People will seek to social media to find all the answers. This happens a lot on TikTok because there are so many people giving their opinions about situations instead of the researched and verified facts. When talking politics, I agree with you it is hard to argue with someone on it whether they are right or wrong. Politics is another category that can spread false lies or create omissions that are edited to the viewer to host there opinion instead of the facts that were presented. I enjoyed reading your blog this week!