Social Media…Again
Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
It can’t be said enough: social media is the Trojan Horse of democracy.
We should have listened to the ancient warning about geeks bearing gifts. Social Media arrived at the gates of our city as a gift from the technologists. It was shiny and new, full of the promise of a new day. One where the levers of connection and communication weren’t controlled by a few TV networks, radio talk hosts, or major newspapers. We didn’t know then that it also carried the highly communicable social diseases of Disinformation and Anonymous Rage. It simply promised to give voice to all. And, boy, did it. The Trojans also should have warned us about unintended consequences.
For better and worse, everyone now has a voice. No longer does society operate from a single play book where the distinction between good and evil is apparent to all. It didn’t take long for nefarious forces to co-opt this tool intended to bring us together by letting us talk to each other without the media acting as middleman. We’ve always had a dark side that spurs the ongoing war between good and evil. That which was meant to bring us together is tearing us apart. Instead, of—or, more charitably, in addition to—bringing us together, it has sown the seeds of division and discontent. And because there is no barrier to entry, no need to identify yourself or take responsibility for what you post, much of Social is now a cesspool of bullying, intimidation, phony “research,” and name-calling.
Those on the margins whose intent was always to force their will on the rest of us, but whose numbers were too small, and whose dangerous ambitions too transparent, have found each other, and leveraged Social Media to the degree that their voices, once distant and weak, compete at the same volume as mainstream society.
That rings more true than ever now that the Justice Department has identified a rat’s nest of Russia and China funded, seemingly legit American businesses, that paid prominent right-wing trolls to distribute the Kremlin’s divisive lies to their millions of followers.
Free speech and the First Amendment are our greatest assets. They are also our biggest vulnerabilities.
From the Wall Street Journal: “Chinese government-backed trolls are targeting U.S. voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election, assuming fake identities of politically engaged voters on social media to promote divisive narratives around issues including gun control, racial inequality and the Israel-Hamas war, according to new research.”
Needless to say the Chinese government denies this. The group calls itself “Spamouflauge.” It’s reminiscent of the final scene in Casablanca, where Captain Renault, played by Claude Rains, says to Humphrey Bogart, “Ricky I am shocked to learn there is gambling in your establishment. Shocked I tell you,” as a subordinate hands, him a fistful of money and says, “Your winnings Captain.” Their goal seems to be to instill chaos rather than promote one candidate over another. At this moment, TikTok is the most used platform for such divisive propaganda. Anxious to maintain its hold in the United States, the official word from them is that they try very hard to root out such information. Just about as believable as Captain Renault.
“We relentlessly pursue and publicly report on the covert influence operations we remove on an ongoing basis,” the TikTok spokeswoman said, adding, “We will continue to remove deceptive accounts and harmful misinformation as we protect the integrity of our platform during the U.S. elections.”
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow spoke to independent journalist Oliver Darcey: “In a single news cycle this week, we saw a former Trump campaign advisor indicted federally for his financial ties to sanctioned state-run Russian media. And we saw the Justice Department shut down dozens of websites designed to look like news outlets that were secretly run by Russia that were promoting Donald Trump and trying to turn Americans against each other. And we saw very high-profile pro-Trump right-wing influencers revealed to be on the payroll — the very generous payroll — of the Russian government.
“Our most determined enemy believes that their best tactic for weakening the United States is to spend hand over fist to put Trump back in the White House. Putin is not a guy who is messing with our elections because he wants what's best for us. He's trying to destroy the United States, or hurt us as much as he can, and he sees the best way to do that is by helping the Trump movement. And I just think that deserves some self-reflection on the right.”
The social networks are our current Frankenstein monsters. Rife with unintended consequences, hardly any of them good, the social networks, SnapChat, Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, and YouTube, are easy entrance ramps to the information freeway.
©2024 Jon Sinton