How social media is finding its way into politics.
Social media, once a beacon of hope for humanity to unite from around the globe on the truly important matters, has evolved into a communal divided platform for radical minded individuals to spread hate and in cases violence.
Public opinion is the currency of democracy, social media platforms have become a key arena for public discourse and opinion mobilization. As the primary medium for discussions about daily life as well as important national issues, social media is increasingly shaping public opinion. Not primarily negative, the social media majority acts as an “Awareness builder” in the masses in the form of e-news papers, news articles and quick updates. It has made it easier for elected individuals to directly communicate with their people for engagement, feedback, and share important updates via social media even in emergency situations even internationally.
On one hand marginalized communities have found their voice to speak about the perils of their existence. In an effort for the world to provide them with the justice they deserve. An admirable example of this movement is the “Black Lives Matter” movement in 2020 that was brought to the global forum due to the untimely killing of George floyd. We saw various individuals come together to organize protests by the use of social media platforms such as facebook. This had brought about legal and societal changes in the perceptions and centuries old stereotypes. But at the same time, social media platforms can easily become a space for promoting biased propaganda. Micro-targeting can enable dishonest campaigns to spread toxic discourse without much consequence. With the spread of Misinformation people are more likely to believe trusted sources when they produce news, and do not bother questioning the reality of the content. Finally, positive or negative one cannot ignore the present role of social media and its heavy influence on politics.
The powerful force of social media has mediated the pathway of politics in many ways. It provides a direct and personalized way for political actors to connect with their supporters and mobilize them for their own personal agenda. Through social media platforms, political actors can share their message, engage with their audience, and target specific demographics. Such targeting does often lead to religious and social tensions in different parts of the country.It has also allowed political actors to respond to current events in real-time, creating a more dynamic and engaged political discourse, moreover enabling a style of populist politics, which on the negative side allows hate speech and extreme speech to thrive in digital spaces that are unregulated, particularly in regional languages. Without any sort of censorship or fact checking by the respected authorities this poses a major threat to the people. The use of social media by political actors has also raised concerns about the impact of online manipulation, fake news, and the potential erosion of a democratic election in itself.
What ends up happening is that no matter what side you are on, you are fed information that reinforces your beliefs and ideals. Content that doesn't agree with your worldview simply doesn't make it to your screen. And if it does, you say "show me fewer like this" and it never shows up again. We develop such strong convictions in our opinions that we refuse to accept any other idea regardless of how true it is, creating what's called an ‘echo chamber’. This sort of disregarding others opinions over one's comes from the background of misinformation and disinformation.
It is important to highlight here that there is a simple difference between the two ters of “Misinformation and Disinformation” that must be highlighted before anything else. ‘Misinformation’ is simply incorrect information. At its core, it’s any content which happens to accidentally misinform us. While misinformation happens accidentally, ‘disinformation’ occurs when there is a deliberate intention to deceive.The most major influence of social media in the spread of misinformation and disinformation can be seen in the past US elections.
False information and conspiracy theories were disseminated on social media platforms, mainly facebook that was used to target a certain demographic of impressionable audience, leading to confusion among voters and affecting their decision-making. Voting being a democratic right to all was in danger in itself as many voting polls were being shown as closed and unavailable during the election on social media websites in few selected neighborhoods, many believe this to be racially charged division. This highlights the need for social media platforms to take more responsibility in fact-checking and curbing the spread of false information.
The future of many hangs in the balance when we discuss the future of politics and democracy as a whole in India.With a large and growing number of internet users, social media has become a powerful tool for political parties and candidates to mobilize supporters, engage with voters, and influence public opinion.With the wide spreading rate of polarization in the county it is hard to differentiate between the real and fake, especially with the growth of Artificial Intelligence users often being exposed to content that reinforces their existing beliefs and biases, rather than encouraging them to engage with different perspectives.
To sum up, the dual nature of social media—its ability to unite and inform, as well as to mislead and divide—highlights the need for greater scrutiny and accountability. As social media continues to shape political landscapes and public discourse, it is essential to address its challenges and harness its potential for positive impact.
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