Donald Trump threatened to imprison Mark Zuckerburg after he banned Trump off Facebook following the January 6 riots. Trump shared that he will “pursue election fraudsters at levels never seen before” and that they will be sent to prison for “long periods of time” once he is elected president, Dazed reports.
Social media has undoubtedly become a tool for spreading information (and misinformation), promoting political campaigns and manipulating user’s views on political agendas and propaganda.
This widespread abuse of social media can hold detrimental consequences for elections, and the BBC reports that the youth is especially being targeted.
Social media, used responsibly, can majorly benefit parties, but its misuse poses a major threat to elections. But to what extent is it a problem?
How Is Social Media Used By Political Parties?
Political parties have discovered the power of social media and leverage it for a variety of ways.
Firstly, social media enables parties to spread their message vastly, and so that it reaches their intended audience. They can share their political stance, announce events, and promote their candidates, allowing them to directly connect with voters.
Social media also helps political parties raise funds. Parties can create targeted campaigns to help them reach potential donors and raise money to go towards their causes. These campaigns also allow parties to target age groups, geographic locations, and even interests to ensure their message resonates with their audience.
Then, social media can be used so create a sense of community among supporting individuals, allowing for discussions and debates. Parties can also address any issues and answer any questions their audience may have.
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When Did Social Media Affect Votes?
Social media can and has been used to manipulate public opinion and election outcomes. In fact, the American Economic Association notes that social media and fake news influenced the course of events during the 2016 US presidential election.
The Association further explains that false information favouring trump was shared about 30 million times on Facebook, and false information favouring Clinton was shared 8 million times, and social media was an important, albeit not dominant source of election news.
But this issue is not merely a past endeavour. The BBC also reports that the emergence of deepfakes may also have directly or indirectly influenced the UK’s 2024 general elections. It notes that even when the deepfake content wasn’t enough to fool users, the discussions around it could have had a lasting impact.
How Has Social Media Been Used To Manipulate Votes?
Social media can be maliciously used to manipulate votes in many ways. As seen in the above examples, the spread of misinformation and deepfake content can have significant effects.
Social media can influence elections through targeted ads, which allows their specific messages to reach a specific group of people, exploiting their personal preferences, fears, and biases.
Bots and trolls can also influence the course of elections. Bots, automated programmes designed to carry out certain activities online, can emphasise certain messages, create trending topics and spread misinformation at scale. Trolls can also post nasty comments, harass opposing individuals and create a false sense of support or dissent.
Algorithms can also be a danger, creating echo chambers that expose individuals to information that reinforces their existing beliefs, and causing polarisation, which discourages balanced viewpoints and encourages extreme views.
Social media also allows foreigners to interfere with other countries’ elections, as they can contribute to spreading false information and perform other activities such as leak data and hack individuals’ accounts to tamper with electoral outcomes.
To conclude, social media can be used as a tool for political parties, and can hold detrimental consequences for elections if used irresponsibly. Social media has influenced elections in the past and continues to influence individuals’ opinions and the important decisions they have to make to drive the country forward.
