The Political World of the Internet
It’s a hotbed of a debate about who the next President should be this year. It’s a fight to see who gets the honor of being crowned the title POTUS. It’s also something that has been dramatically changed by the power of the internet. The internet has changed the way politics have been viewed. It has changed how people use social media like Facebook. Politics online have been such a wild west of advertisements, opinions, etc. It’s hard to even say if this is actually a bad or good thing. Some may not agree with it but others may agree. The purpose of this blog isn’t to sway ones opinion but to simply examine the world of politics through Facebook and see how that can affect our political beliefs.
Facebook recently made the decision to ban political ads from their platform. This change is going to take place after the Presidential election is over with. It will change Facebook rapidly. The decision comes down to “concern that social media could muddle election results.” Facebook has been criticized in the past for its allowance of far-right political ads on their platform and as well allowing multiple groups on Facebook that spread hate. Facebook as well took the decision to ban those groups around June of 2020. Banning groups like the Proud Boys and American Guard. We see a dramatic shift of politics during the Hillary Clinton and Trump election of 2016. During this time period the way political ads were being spread on Facebook was something that drew some attention. Ads aren’t inherently a bad thing. The problem with ads though, especially through Facebook, is the fact that ads are tailored and targeted for individuals. With political ads via Facebook, these ads are as well tailored for users, it’s targeted for them. These ads create an echo-chamber that some will truly believe in. There is no counter-points these users would receive.
If we look back at the big political race of 2016, we can see that with social-media in general. There as a massive influx of fake news pouring onto these platforms. According to NPR, “More than 40 percent of visits to 65 fake news sites comes from social media.” Sites like Facebook had a extremely dramatic effect on how this fake news was carried out. “the top 20 fake news stories had more shares, reactions, and comments on Facebook (8.7 million engagements) than the 20 top hard news stories (7.3 million engagements)” Online politics and how they are shared is problematic due to reasons like this. It is too easy to get individuals to believe something they see on Facebook. They use the site everyday, so why not trust it?
During the 2016 election, Trump’s digital media manager Brad Parscale, came out and stated that most of their budget went towards an online ad space specifically focused on Facebook. 80% of the digital budget was spent on Facebook he claims. Facebook is an easy to use sight, these ads ultimately worked for the campaign as the ads would always change and shift. Trump is an outgoing individual some would say. His imagery and rhetoric “was a strong fit for Facebook’s network and for Trump’s base.” The ads were specifically tailored for those that wanted to see them. It was for the Trump supporters. Not the Hilary supporters.
Ultimately, I believe it is hard to say for one that politics online are a awful thing outright. I personally believe that Facebook banning political ads on their platforms is something that is to be critical of, but I don’t see it as the end of their platform. Politics have changed so drastically over the years. You can’t blame one for taking advantage of the internet and using it for their best interests. Realistically I believe that one has to see that this is the world we live in today, and politics online will exist in one form or another for a long, long time.
