Social media

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Concept.png Social media 
(communication technologyCampfire WikiRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
Interest of• Bilderberg/2019
• DFR Lab
• Carl Miller
• Project Iris
• Reclaim The Net
• Marianna Spring

Social media are websites which allow users to choose friends and exchange information with them.

Concerns

The Integrity Initiative has shown great interest in the use of social media for spreading (dis)information.

"The Weaponisation of Social Media" was on the agenda for the 2019 Bilderberg.

“Social media manipulation was pioneered by Israel in 2009, during its Gaza offensive, not by Russia and China. The UK and the US both have had online "psychological operations" for years. Calling out some actors but giving others a free pass does little to address the problem.”
Clare Daly (10 December 2021)  [1]

Analyzing/influencing society at scale

Sean Parker, Chamath Palihapitiya - Facebook is 'Ripping Apart Society'

American social media companies have become instruments to analyze how social interactions in societies work at large and how information is spread. It stands to reason that when data is generated in large amounts, that beside revenue generation it is also fed into programs like the Sentient World Simulation, with an end goal to steer opinions. Earlier research of Skinner and Asch most certainly played a role; the need to fit with it's own circle of acquaintances may have been of particular interest, how much the need to do and say as the other does prevail.

Vince Ebert (a German cabaretist[2]) says about the research of William von Hippel (a social psychologist[3]) that:[4]

  • humans use a large part of their thinking power to find their way in their complicated social world
  • Our "social" brain does check facts from time to time. But much more important to it is the question: what are the social consequences if I do or say this or that?
  • So we have a mechanism in our heads that, in case of doubt, even prevents us from thinking what is right if, in return, it endangers our social status
  • the higher the social and economic status of a person, the more this phenomenon occurs. Educated and/or wealthy people are more concerned about what others might think of their opinions
  • the more educated and smarter a person is, the more adept his brain is at selling him the biggest nonsense as a reasonable idea, as long as it elevates his social status
  • as a result, the upper educated middle class tends to be more inclined than ordinary people to chase after some intellectual boondoggle

Censorship

"Social media companies are experimenting with Artificial intelligence technology to remove hateful content from their platform."[5]


 

Examples

Page nameDescription
4chan4Chan is a website where anyone can post comments and share images anonymously.
Alt TechNew social media platforms.
GabGab is a social networking service with a strict free speech approach for which it is criticized in corporate media.
InstagramA popular photo sharing website. Owned by Facebook.
LocalsLocals is an Alt Tech platform.
RedditA large corporate media site of forums in which readers vote stories up/down. As its popularity grew, it was subject to increased trolling and shilling by propagandists.
TelegramTelegram is a social media service.
TikTokLike YouTube but videos have a duration from fifteen seconds to three minutes. The company is filled with "former" CIA spooks
TwitchTwitch is an American video live streaming service; mainly used for video games.
XTwitter is a social media service.
YouTubeThe Internet's most popular video sharing site; owned by Google. Aggressively removing information about Covid-19 while promoting Covid vaccines.

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
"Disinformation"“The weirdest thing about the Biden administration tasking itself with the censorship of "disinformation" on social media is that the United States is the hub of a globe-spanning empire that is built upon a foundation of disinformation, maintained by disinformation, and facilitated by disinformation.”Caitlin JohnstoneJuly 2021
Saagar Enjeti@jack was the last of the tech CEOS who at least on a personal level was committed to free speech. His departure is probably going to make Twitter a lot worse for censorship (which is truly saying something)”Saagar Enjeti29 November 2021
Euan Grant“* With the help of the UK financial sector (BBA, ABI, London Stock Exchange) establish relations with EU counterparts and European for liaison with European bourses. Activity: £1.8k Euan Grant?
  • Through links with UK law enforcement and revenue organisations, anti-corruption and development NGO's and journalistic orgs, gain access
to their European counterparts. Activity: £9k Euan Grant?
Euan Grant30 May 2018
Michael Gunner“The BS that’s flying around on the internet about the territory is coming from flogs outside the territory – mostly America, Canada and the UK,” Mr Gunner told a media conference on Thursday. People who have nothing better to do than make up lies about us because their own lives are so small and so sad. If anybody thinks we’re going to be distracted by tin foil hat-wearing tossers sitting in their parents’ basement in Florida – then you do not know us Territorians”Michael Gunner25 November 2021
Institute for Statecraft/Secrecy“Social media training. Activity: £5k Chris Hernon and Charlie HattonJacky Sloane to film.30 May 2018
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador“Yes, social media should not be used to incite violence and all that, but this cannot be used as a pretext to suspend freedom of expression. How can a company act as if it was all powerful, omnipotent, as a sort of Spanish Inquisition on what is expressed?”Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador14 January 2021
Joy Reid“Essentially, she made public her own vaccine deliberation, which according to trusted friends is a better way to describe vaccine hesitancy, which by the way is not the same thing as refusal. By doing, Nicki also used her social media platform and her 22 million Twitter followers to cast doubt on the vaccine to a heavily Black audience”Joy Reid14 September 2021
The Twitter Files“After the 2016 upsets of Brexit and the election of Trump, however, the establishment soured on free speech. Both events were seen as undermining NATO, and both were blamed on foreign influence on social media—specifically Russia. The U.S. and UK governments in particular saw the need to identify and purge Russian influence operations online and set up a government–private apparatus to do so.”Peter Svab
The Epoch Times
17 January 2023
Henry Wales“In today’s world, we are so connected like a vast nervous system, whether we are online or not. And much like the virus, there are no borders online. So when vaccine misinformation and disinformation spreads, magnified on social media and in parts of traditional media, it exposes a collective threat to humanity. I believe that misinformation is a global humanitarian crisis, and the crisis is getting worse.”Henry Wales

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Pro-Kremlin trolls infiltrating comments on news sites for major influence operation, research saysArticle6 September 2021Deborah HaynesA study at Cardiff University shows that "Pro-Kremlin trolls" are influencing opinion in the West by infiltrating the comments sections of news websites. Dissent from the Official Narrative? Must be Russian disinformation.
Document:Social Media Investigation and Monitoring Proposal - Subject Poisoning of Sergei Skripalprogram proposal15 March 2018Greg RowettEstablish the flow across social media of the messaging, and establish key influencers, friendly and anti, to HMG.
Document:Social Media as a vector for propagandapaper26 December 2018Integrity Initiative

 

An official example

Name
Facebook
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References