Title: Social (Net)Work: How does social media influence democracy? | Digital Trends
Headings: Social (Net)Work: How does social media influence democracy?
Social (Net)Work: How does social media influence democracy?
The Information Cocoon
Fake news
https://twitter.com/IlvesToomas/status/966096207595614209
Bots
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“Inherently, however, I believe social media is a net ‘good’ for civic engagement”
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Content: Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the former president of Estonia and now a fellow at Stanford University Hoover Institution, suggests social media creates a news outlet without oversight, allowing anyone to create and share fake news and misinformation. https://twitter.com/IlvesToomas/status/966096207595614209
Ilves says while some studies have shown how wide-spread fake news links are, studies have not yet shown if the disinformation campaigns had an influence on voters. One study suggests that the fake news shared before the 2016 election had more views than the stories by major news outlets, while another showed that nearly 30 percent of Americans that were 18 or older visited a fake news site in that same time period, he said. Ilves says that the pressure to legislate fake news campaigns will likely increase, with Germany now requiring social media platforms to remove hate speech, fake news, and other illegal content within 24 hours. He suggests that, however, regulation by the social media platforms themselves could reduce some of the pressure for government action. Bots
One of the tools being used to spread fake news is the use of bots, or automated accounts creating or sharing a large number of posts. Bots on Twitter, Ilves says, have been used to suggest current events are hoaxes or to undermining politicians. “The Twittersphere especially has been deluged by bots — or robot accounts tweeting and retweeting stories — that generally are fake.” “The Twittersphere especially has been deluged by bots — or robot accounts tweeting and retweeting stories — that generally are fake and often in the service of governments or extremist political groups tying to sway public opinion,” Ilves wrote. “ NATO’s Center of Excellence for Strategic Communication, for example, recently reported that an astounding 84% of Russian-language Twitter messages about NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe were generated by bots.