Social Media And The Midterms – Are The Platforms Doing Enough To Address The Spread Of Misinformation? | International Association of Digital Marketing Professionals (IADMP)

By Adam

There are less than one month before the midterm elections and there is concern that efforts may be falling. … [+]Short-term measures are needed to counter the spread of misinformation or disinformation via social media.

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There are less than one month before the midterm elections and there is concern that social media misinformation and disinformation spreading on the internet continues to grow. The risk of misinformation being used to influence voters and influence elections seems greater as more Americans rely on these platforms for information and news.

Michelle Ciulla Lipkin (executive director, National Association for Media Literacy Education) stated that while social media platforms have been exploring new solutions and supporting essential programs, they still need to do more.

What’s the Future of Business?

The problem is that social media’s business model actually encourages the spreading of fake news.

Lipkin said that harmful information can be magnified by the media landscape, which profits from clicks and views.

But, it is being changed.

Professor of Global Business Strategy at SMU’s Cox School of Business, David Jacobson stated that Facebook is still under pressure to help in the efforts of China and Russia to subvert the citizens faith in democracy in America.

Jacobson explained that many of the conspiracy stories of far-right were the result of Russian’s FSB and the People’s Republic of China’s private ministry of propaganda. These efforts began even before 2016’s election. It grew in direct influence over the election and Facebook and its affiliates knew this was being used to spread false news stories.

There is now much greater scrutiny and more advanced tools available to detect foreign actors’ efforts and track Facebook’s responses in real time. Jacobson said that it is still unclear whether Facebook or other platforms would take such active roles without third-party scrutiny. Jacobson also expressed concern about the possibility of regulation in the future.

There was more to be done

Experts have suggested, however, that Facebook’s decision to remove misinformation networks from its platform is not enough or too late.

“The 2020 United States election was rife with non-state and state actors disseminating misinformation. Although it’s not known how these campaigns affected election results, there are still many Americans who believe the election was “rigged” because of misinformation and lies,” stated Dr. William Pelfrey Jr. from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs.

Pelfrey stated that the social media platforms have a responsibility to limit the dissemination of fake news information and verify that users are authentically representing themselves.

He warned that “failing to do one of these will lead to a snowball effect misinformation.” “If a social media participant who claims to be a U.S. Citizen – but is actually an agent of a state – posts a link to a false news story (i.e. A fabricated NY Times article or BBC article, then that fake news is distributed, redistributed, redistributed again and again, giving it the appearance of being fact.

Is There a Breaking Point?

It is believed that social media will continue …read more

Source:: Social Media Explorer