Are Facebook and Twitter controlling your thoughts, behaviour and politics?
Imagine your virtual self is being held hostage by your favourite uncle. Let바카라s call him Som. Hold that thought. Now, you don바카라t mind because Som is cool, popular and well-liked, and could not conceivably put a foot wrong. Som tells you stuff you never knew existed, talks to you about the things you like. In fact, you like them because he바카라s the one who told you about them in the first place.
Som good? No, Som bad. Or is it all too complicated and you can바카라t tell?
Lurid visions of thought control aside, researchers have put forward an even scarier question, asking: 바카라Is social media a threat to democracy?바카라 That바카라s a far cry from the early days of the flat, digitalised world when the Internet was often thought of as a great leveller, and essentially democratic by nature. That initial optimism ebbed over time, and has now given way to a dystopian reading, where the medium is seen to have an internal behaviour with rather dark implications. And everyone is getting played by it, you, me and even Uncle Som.
The question is raised directly in the title of a study published this month by The Omidyar Group, known for investing in independent news outlets like Rappler in the Philippines and Newslaundry in India, by contributors Anamitra Deb, Stacy Donohue and Tom Glaisyer.
The researchers have identified six key issues that plague popular social media networks like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and platforms like Reddit and 4chan. To quote: 바카라Echo chambers promoting polarisation, the spread of false and/or misleading information, legitimacy stemming from popularity, manipulation by 바카라populist바카라 leaders and governments, personal data capture and targeted messaging/advertising and a disruption of the public square.바카라
Familiar themes, but the patterns have become so pervasive and entrenched as to pretty much define social media now. All forms of media have a political nature. Back in the day, television was seen to have created docile, apolitical, entertainment addicts: and which government doesn바카라t like that? Is social media doing the opposite? Creating cantankerous, anarchic, even fascist communities? Does it have the power to seduce us into toppling governments?
This July, Facebook let it be known it had 241 million users in India. Even Uttar Pradesh, which as we know forms the axis on which Indian elections turn, has only a population of just over 200 million. If Facebookers were a cohesive ethnic group, they would be ruling India! Twitter, by comparison, is modest바카라around 23.2 million users in India at the end of 2016, according to Statista. But even that바카라s close to the population of Chhattisgarh, and likely growing much faster.
A New York Times article from May last year said Facebook claims its average user spends about 50 minutes a day on the platform. To compare it with another vital human function, the average human spends about 64 minutes eating and drinking in a day. The addiction, however, is not the problem. Or only an enabling element in it. 바카라It is now increasingly clear that social media is quite different from any kind of mass medium humans have known바카라because it is many-to-many, pervasive and instantaneous. It seems the impact it has on the human mind is also very different,바카라 says Nitin Pai, director of the Takshashila Institution, a public policy think-tank based in Bangalore.
The Omidyar Group study says the old rosy view about social media바카라s potential for democratising access to information, and giving voice to those who were traditionally marginalised or censored, is eroding. The business model for social media is simple: 바카라Capture attention, then monetise it through advertising.바카라 Platforms like Facebook and Google use 바카라behavioural and psychographic profiling바카라 which is used to target users with 바카라personalised content and advertising바카라, invisible to most 바카라but the recipient바카라.
This brings us back to the room where Som has held your virtual self hostage. No one knows where you are, but Som has been talking to you, and you feel secure.
바카라Echo chambers exist not only on social media but in real life, like economic ghettos,바카라 says Pratik Sinha , the 35-year-old co-founder of Alt News, a website that calls itself 바카라anti-propaganda바카라 and has been calling out the misinformation spread by mainstream news organisations. Sinha compares his childhood, growing up in a house that was surrounded by the signs of a lot of economic diversity, to now, to the 바카라clustered바카라 2BHKs and 3BHKs of today. 바카라We are creating economic echo chambers, social media magnifies that,바카라 he tells Outlook. In other words, we live in gated communities, both offline and online.
바카라Echo chambers do lead to polarisation,바카라 says Ankit Lal, who heads the team of volunteers who handle social media for the Aam Aadmi Party. It can be a double-edged sword. Lal admits to have been stuck in an 바카라AAP echo chamber바카라 that he had to resolve by 바카라connecting바카라 with non-political people. The AAP handle has over 4 million followers on Twitter and close to 3.2 million on FB. 바카라When the right-wing talks nonsense, it goes into their space. When we talk of schools, that also gets stuck in one chamber,바카라 he says.
The BJP has 13.6 million FB followers and the @BJP4India handle on Twitter reaches over 7 million users. Reams of newsprint have extolled the party바카라s outreach programmes on social media during the 2014 Lok Sabha victory and since. A Stanford University study this year said: 바카라The rigour with which they pursued their social media strategy seems to have paid off.바카라 Outlook tried to speak with Amit Malviya, who is designated as the 바카라in-charge of the BJP바카라s national Information & Technology바카라, according to his Twitter bio. He said: 바카라After Himachal, Gujarat election. Thanks.바카라
The Telegraph, UK, showed the Google search graph for the term 바카라fake news바카라 peaking after the Trump election of November 2016. The study says the 바카라much-maligned term바카라 comprises 바카라several types of disinformation (sharing of information known to be false) and misinformation (the inadvertent sharing of false information)바카라. Says Abhinandan Sekhri, co-founder of Newslaundry, 바카라Fake news is coming from a desire to win elections and create a dominant narrative바카라. Sekhri is an active voice on the kind of changes Indian media needs to adopt in order to survive at a time when an Edelman Trust report said faith in the media globally dropped to an all-time low at 43 per cent this March. Ironically, that report itself was misreported by sections of the Indian media, which claimed it was 바카라shocking바카라 that the national media was one of the least trusted. Boom Live, another organisation that fact-checks claims made by the media, broke that story.
Alt News바카라s Sinha, who has been hailed for busting fake news from the right wing and says BJP supporters 바카라abuse in hordes바카라, says fake news is now used by all and sundry. 바카라The anti-BJP camp puts out false news now,바카라 he says, citing a recent Boom Live story where Congress supporters shared a pole-dance video of JD(U) MLA Abhay Kushwaha from 2015, saying it was Madhya Pradesh minister Kunwar Vijay Shah. 바카라When one party gains electoral dividends by misinformation, no one holds back. You will see a lot of fake news targeting the BJP. I can see a trend,바카라 he adds. Sekhri agrees, and says three-four years ago, the 바카라motivation was not misinformation or the political blocking of a story. Now that is the purpose바카라.
The rot is deep. Take the recent media handling of the Rohingya issue. Everyone saw those over-the-top debates on news channels. And over the weekend, the editor of ANI took to Twitter to tell Sinha that the news agency had taken down a story, attributing it to 바카라oversight바카라. The Alt News headline: 바카라Did ANI fall for a WhatsApp forward about 2,000 Rohingyas planning to attack Nagaland?바카라
Historian Ramachandra Guha had recently said India was 바카라in danger of being reduced to an 바카라election-only바카라 democracy.바카라 Even if that바카라s taken to be an exaggeration for emphasis, the sheer magnitude of overt and covert political messaging on social media should forewarn us about disasters waiting to happen바카라what with all manner of vested interests capable of creating 바카라narratives바카라 in the game.
The US election brought alive the threat of Russian hackers. Sekhri cites the case of Ukraine, which blocked popular Russian social media websites in May. 바카라Several Ukrainian politicians spoke in favour of the ban amid the simmering conflict with Russian-backed separatists, which has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014,바카라 reported The Guardian.
On September 6, Facebook admitted about $100,000 worth of advertising on their platform came from Russia. The vast majority of ads on these accounts didn바카라t 바카라specifically reference the US election.... Rather, (they) appeared to focus on amplifying divisive social and political messages across the ideological spectrum, touching on topics from LGBT matters to race issues to immigration to gun rights,바카라 says the study.
Governments are in the game too, naturally. In March, Buzzfeed reported how Myanmar officials were 바카라using fabricated news to advance their political goals and downplay harassment of Muslims바카라.
Says Mayur Khatwani, an online marketing consultant based out of Mumbai: 바카라Americans are more aware of sponsored advertising. They know which posts have come their way by detailed targeting on Facebook.바카라 The Omidyar study mentions how FB could be used for 바카라dark advertising바카라. It바카라s nothing but a 바카라paid campaign바카라, Khatwani explains바카라an anti-hair-loss brand, say, would target users looking for hair-fall solutions on FB. 바카라I catch this behaviour and show him advertisements because he바카라s vulnerable. People on social media don바카라t know where the posts in their feed are coming from,바카라 he says.
The Trump campaign mapped responses to 40,000바카라50,000 different variants of ads every day, then 바카라adapt(ed) and evolve(d) their messaging based on that feedback,바카라 the study says, saying social media algorithms run on feedback loops which constantly monitor behaviour. 바카라In real life, we do talk to more people,바카라 says Sinha. 바카라But it바카라s the nature of social media. When you like or share someone바카라s posts, you see more of that person.바카라
As the study puts it, 바카라It may be worth questioning whether this is due to the editorial choices of the platforms, or whether it is a result of platform design responding to reader preferences and prejudice.바카라 One clear bias in the algorithm 바카라is that the criteria attribute legitimacy to popularity바카라.
Speaking of popularity, the prime minister has over 35.5 million followers on the @narendramodi account, far outshining BJP followers. In Lal바카라s party바카라s case, @ArvindKejriwal has 12.5 million followers, close to thrice of what his party has. (See graphic for media equivalents.)
바카라Twitter,바카라 says Pai, 바카라has done well to increase participation in the public discourse; but it has also made the public discourse very superficial, very temporary and based on false and dubious information. Popularly held misconceptions and prejudices take on the effect of 바카라truth바카라 by sheer force of numbers. Also, social media gives us an artificial sense of representation바카라we assume the loudest, most extreme, strident voices are representative of overall public opinion.바카라
And people on the borderline of bigoted views tend to be encouraged by those 바카라few people (who) boldly express prejudiced and bigoted views,바카라 says Pai. It has a cascading effect which 바카라normalises and legitimises abusive conduct and political violence바카라바카라the dark side of society gains. 바카라Even if the brighter side of things is amplified more than the dark side, there is a threshold of darkness above which societies can begin to regress. The world is edging closer to the threshold,바카라 he says.
By now, you should know someone is creepy. Maybe it바카라s not just between you and Uncle Som. Or any similarly named uncle. Maybe it바카라s some Master Chatbot out there somewhere, telling us in a secret language what to do, like and think.
***
Being Followed?
Social media amplifies the old truth: popularity brings legitimacy. And individuals seem more 바카라trusted바카라 than organisations.