The real reason Social Media propaganda works
“Nothing has undermined democracy more than people’s willingness to abdicate responsibility for thinking for themselves. “
#Facebook’s head of PR propaganda has quit #Fakebook
Facebook’s head of PR admits to developing a program to slime others with negative propaganda messaging. He had already submitted his resignation.
#Facebook uses propaganda troll methods to boost public’s image of Facebook
Facebook deploys propaganda campaigns to tarnish its competitors and to discredit FB critics by associating them with those who may have unsavory public reputations. Facebook adopts the same methods used by the Internet Research Agency of Russia but for the benefit of Facebook. None of this is a surprise considering that Facebook is the world’s leading propaganda platform.
“Lazy thinking” at root of accepting and sharing fake news on social media
People who tend towards analytical thinking styles are better at spotting fictional news than others.
Revisiting an old topic – almost every item on this propaganda poster was false
Revisiting the old Occupy Democrats propaganda poster from 2016, where nearly every item on the poster was an outright lie. I recently updated the “free childcare” section and added Parts 7 and 8 to this popular series. Seriously, it is the most searched for item on this blog!
Are social media posts badly misinformed? Probably
In light of the survey finding most voters are badly misinformed on well known and popular public policy issues the same is likely true about social media posts. It is likely that more than half of political or policy oriented social media posts are incorrect. But depending on who makes the posts, and how many followers they have, their incorrect posts can be influential – and plant non factual and illogical constructions in the minds of their targets.
Survey finds most voters are badly misinformed about well known policy topics
A survey finds that most voters are badly misinformed about popular policy topics. Literally, what they know is wrong – per the facts. This is not an opinion survey but a knowledge survey. Take the survey yourself – how well do you score on these knowledge topics? Consider the role that propaganda plays in misinforming voters, and how opinion polls of misinformed voters are then used to influence policy.
No she doesn’t: “Oregon governor’s race poll: Kate Brown holds slim lead over Knute Buehler”
The Oregonian falsely reports a poll showing one candidate ahead of the other when they are in an indistinguishable statistical tie. Sloppy reporting like this is inexcusable.
Example of erroneous social media post gone viral-yet is factually incorrect
A widely shared social media post about the Supreme Court contains 4 major errors according to an expert on law. Yet at the time of his writing, had been shared over 18,000 times on Facebook. Social media enables anyone to act as a propagandist, and once memes go viral, they become “facts” even though they are completely wrong.
Facebook’s #Instagram is as privacy invasive as #Facebook
Log in to Instagram in a browser. Click on your profile icon at upper right. Click on the round, slightly gear shaped icon next to your channel name and “Edit Profile” button. Click on Privacy and Security option on the pop up menu. Page down and click on View Account Data. Here you can see that they record – forever – any current and former phone numbers and email addresses you have provided. They also record – forever – any…
Apparently Star Wars was a propaganda film
Much of the online criticism about the Star Wars movie, The Last Jedi, was driven by Russian troll farms and bots as a form of information warfare intended – successfully – to tear our society apart. It’s pretty ugly.
Media propaganda operations during election seasons
During election season, local media outlets post their “voter recommendations” or “endorsements” in a form of straight up propaganda messaging intended to persuade a group of people to adopt the publisher’s own agenda. All media – from traditional industrial media operations to social media – are primarily propaganda operations.
This is genuine and not faked reporting – Anderson Cooper was intentionally showing the dangers of unseen drop offs in flood waters
This image does not show what people think it shows. CNN’s Anderson Cooper was moving around in the water to illustrate the dangers of unseen drop offs in flood waters. I’ve seen clips of the original that show this is what he was doing and this was not “fake news”. The original broadcast occurred after Hurricane Ike. This Internet meme illustrates how an instantaneous, moment in time still image loses all context – and can be readily repurposed into a propaganda message.
Journalism is dead, Part 2
Weather Channel actor Mike Siedel, who plays the role of a journalist and meteorologist, is shown faking a live TV shot. Former NBC News actress Michelle Kosinski, who played the role of a journalist on NBC News is caught canoeing in a flooded street – having just inches of water. Journalism is dead due to death by self inflicted wounds. Sadly, there is no way for a news consumer to know if their news source is reliable or trustworthy as all major news outlets have been caught making significant errors.