The fact that social media has reached an indispensable point in our lives has made it one of the main weapons of political communication.. Thanks to its algorithm, user behavior can be easily determined, messages can be transmitted directly and it has a personalized structure, making social media a unique tool.. As such, it became an important propaganda and manipulation tool for political figures.
Cambridge Analytica Scandal
The most important controversies about social media manipulation emerged with the Cambridge Analytica Scandal. In the scandal that came to the fore in 2018, it was claimed that the data analysis company Cambridge Analytica affected the 2016 US Presidential elections by using the data of 50 million Facebook users illegally.. Similarly, it was claimed that manipulation was carried out in the presidential elections of countries such as France and Germany, especially in the Brexit process.
Dimensions of Manipulation
According to the report prepared by Oxford University Internet Institute, the number of countries using organized social media manipulation campaigns has increased by 150% in the last two years, reaching 70.
Prominent Platforms in Social Media Manipulations
According to the research, countries use perception management; It uses it for 5 main purposes, which are grouped as making pro-government or party propaganda, attacking the opposition or organizing smear campaigns, distracting or diverting conversation or criticism from important issues, creating separation and polarization, and suppressing participation through personal attack or harassment.
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Cyber Unity Activities; Strategies of Messaging and Merger Values
As a result of the report, social media in many countries led by the USA; We see it starting to play a role ‘increasing disinformation, inciting violence, reducing trust in the media and democratic institutions’.
As the US Elections Approach
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The dark picture presented in the report supports the fear that the upcoming US elections will be manipulated.. As a matter of fact, manipulation and fake news debates occupy an important place in the American public before the Presidential election to be held on November 3rd.. While Democratic candidate Joe Biden claims that there is black propaganda about him on Facebook and Twitter, Twitter has started adding warnings to tweets to prevent this fake news frenzy.. Censorship debates arose when these warnings extended to Trump and his campaign team.
Trump – Twitter Fight
In fact, the tension between Twitter and Trump started months ago.. Some of Donald Trump’s tweets during the coronavirus and George Floyd protests were labeled ‘glorifying violence’, ‘bad behavior’ and ‘manipulated media’.. Upon this tension, Trump signed a decree that required social media platforms to be held legally responsible for the posts and said, “If Twitter were not a reputable company and I had legal rights, I would also close Twitter.”
Twitter’s some tweets that he added a warning tag
Shortly before the elections, the measures taken by the platforms to prevent the spread of disinformation became even tougher. Finally, access to the allegations made by the New York Post about Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden was restricted by Facebook.. Twitter, on the other hand, made its ban policy more strict than Facebook and completely blocked the sharing of the news link.
Sharming ban warning for New York Post news
The barrier of platforms has divided the American public in two. While some people ask the question “Will Twitter decide which news to read?”, others think that “fake news” should be prevented in a period when manipulative content is increasing.
Who chooses? won’t be known, but the effect of social media on the elections seems to be talked about for a long time.
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