Political Misinformation

As social media has continued to grow people have increasingly turned to it as a source for news for a wide variety of subjects including politics. During the 2016 US Presidential election one poll found that 14% of Americans considered social media their most important source of information.  As social media use increases so does accessibility to information that can be rapidly spread worldwide. This also opens the door however for the vast dissemination of misinformation as well. Political misinformation is considered content relating to politics or government that is considered inaccurate or misleading.

## Methods of Distributing Misinformation

### Bots

Bots can easily manipulate public opinion and can interfere with political communication. They can affect the way that our elections turn out, which is why it is important to know about. This information can help you protect yourself from forming a political opinion influenced by bots. Most of these bots don't have very many followers, post a lot of the same content at the same time, and then just disappear from the platforms they were on. These bots create identities on social media and post various scripts regarding politics to try and skew people's opinions in a specific direction. It is not always clear who is behind this but in some cases they have been linked back to political campaigns, activists or lobbying groups. A lack of regulation into the role of bots for political campaigns allows them to maneuver around rules set in place by bodies such as the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Political bots can seemingly illegally solicit contributions and votes or violate rules on disclosure due to this lack of regulation. Some of them are designed to impersonate certain types of people to change opinions or oppose others. In some cases they have been used to try and show popularity with a certain demographic especially for candidates who are struggling to gain support from these groups. They have also been used to increase the appearance of popularity of political figures or campaigns. The use of political bots in campaigns is only increasing with social media use and it is important to recognize their role in order to prevent voters from being influenced by their potentially misleading or false information.

### Evidence Collages

Evidence collages are an accumulation of various image files containing information or "evidence" that supports a particular narrative into one centralized post or thread. This evidence is typically in the form of screenshots from other sources. These evidence collages are an easier way to spread lots of information from various sources into an easily digestible and shareable format. A main benefit of this is to inform viewers about a particular topic without them having to go and take time to research it themselves.

Evidence collages however, can also be used by those attempting to spread disinformation. The creators have a particular narrative or claim that they want viewers to believe and use the collages as a way to provide so-called evidence supporting their argument. Individual pieces of evidence in these collages can often be independently verified and corroborated. This gives the viewer a false sense of legitimacy about the overall claim made by the post. It is crucial to recognize that the different pieces of evidence provided in these collages are not always related and often lacks greater context. While there may be a real origin for the piece of evidence being used, the context in which it existed is often lost. Any skepticism or contradictory information that is also removed when it is put into these collages. A claim or piece of evidence that was first posted on an open forum like 4chan is no longer linked to its origin points which causes it to become more legitimate because of the decontextualization. Creators can greatly manipulate the evidence they chose to include in order to make the collage appear more credible despite the evidence they provide lacking credibility or context. This is only further amplified when these collages are shared onto other more mainstream platforms further disconnecting the original sources with the claims made in the collage. Those who come across evidence collages when they hit these more popular sources such as Twitter, Facebook or the mainstream news cycle are more likely to believe them the claims as they don't have the full context. It is crucial that users independently verify the sources in these collages even if they appear credible before jumping to the conclusion of their legitimacy.

### Algorithms

When utilizing digital platforms, often times algorithms measure previous user habits to suggest content that will promote user interaction. While the primary goal of these algorithms is to promote user interaction with various sources via platform filtering many other factors are also considered such as location and popularity. While doing so, however, users are trapped into the concept of filter bubbles as their opinions and values regarding political situations is positively reinforced. Due to the algorithms constantly providing only the opinions that most resonate with the user and not various perspectives that may introduce implications with personal views. This as a result leads to societal polarization and separates the views of society into typically a binary situation where one view may be right and another would be wrong. According to the continuous opinion dynamics model of bounded confidence, which statistically indicated that the more secluded people become into their filter bubbles, the more polarized society as a whole becomes.

### Public Figures

It is important to be aware of many paid influencers and celebrities that attempt to advertise products that they have either never tried or have discretely worded their post to seem as if they are not being paid to promote the product at all. The beginning age of influencers has now ended and so has the advertisement grace period on social media. This means that influencers will no longer be able to post about products without disclosing to their followers that the post is a paid advertisement. These new advertisement laws have been put in place due to the extensive amount of false advertising of products that do not work, but are promoted just so the celebrity or the influencer can make a quick buck. A crucial example of this kind of advertising is what is called Instagram's Teatox culture. This is the promotion of skinny teas and other weight loss products. This is a form of false advertisement that takes advantage of society's impossible "perfect" body image by attempting to sell fake or unhealthy weight loss products to young women struggling with their body image. The worse part is that it is promoted by celebrities such as the Kardashians who have many followers and are role models to many young women. There is no published research to back up the claims of laxative teas and promoting them without declaring it is an advertisement hurts many women on Instagram's platform by convincingly them that celebrities really drink these products to get their "perfect" bodies. Overall, when scrolling through your social media pages it is important not to purchase anything that is not declared an advertisement without doing extensive research to ensure you are not falling into the trap of false advertisement by influencers.

## Potential Impacts on Users

Users were found to be must more likely to believe stories in favor of the candidate they preferred while stories that challenged the user's beliefs received little cognitive response, meaning they were largely ignored. Therefore it is important to be weary of weary exactly you are receiving your information from. Social media can heavily sway your opinions with misinformation from bots to other users who try to push their ideas. Furthermore, celebrities will also try to push their products and opinions on you, leading to you having perspectives that are truly not your own. Additionally, platform filtering can lead to you having uncontested opinions simply because your are not receiving a well-rounded level of information. Understanding the importance of political misinformation in media is crucial for users as ensures that you stand by an opinion and beliefs because you firmly believe its true and have done your own research, not because of what is spread on digital media. Finally, falling victim to political misinformation can have adverse effects on the future. Unknowingly succumbing to incorrect information online can lead to supporting political parties and leaders who might not hold the same values, idea, and agendas that you had thought. Voting for people who you do not actually mean to support can prove devastating in the long run. Moving forward, it is importance to do your own research and investigate news sites that are committed to delivering factual, unbiased knowledge so that you are not fall victim in political misinformation.

## Related Pages

Algorithms

Free Speech

Social Media and Social Justice

## References

1. ↑ Allcott, Hunt, and Matthew Gentzkow. "Social Media and Fake News in the 2016 Election." *Journal of Economic Perspectives,* vol. 31, no. 2, Spring 2017, pp 211-236. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1257/jep.31.2.211.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Krafft, P. M., and Joan Donovan. "Disinformation by Design: The Use of Evidence Collages and Platform Filtering in a Media Manipulation Campaign." *Political Communication,* vol. 37, no. 2, Mar. 2020, pp. 194-214. *EBSCOhost,* search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=142129931&site=eds-live&scope=site.
3. ↑ "'So Many Are Unethical': Influencers Forced to Face up to the Rules of Advertising." *The Sydney Morning Herald,* The Sydney Morning Herald, 30 Apr. 2021, www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/life-and-relationships/so-many-are-unethical-influencers-forced-to-face-up-to-the-rules-of-advertising-20210428-p57n6d.html. [1]
4. ↑ Muhlheim, Lauren, etal. "Bulimia and the Dangers of the Teatox Found on Instagram." *Verywell Mind,* 5 Jan. 2021, www.verywellmind.com/dangers-of-the-instagram-teatox-culture-1138304.[2]