A Pew Research study finds that social media political posts change the views of relatively few people, but are more likely to change the views of Democrats than of Republicans (by about 2 to 1).
This blog analyzed a popular social media propaganda post that was widely distributed in 2016. The poster encouraged viewers to share if you wanted the U.S. to be just like Denmark. Nearly all the claims about Denmark, however, were false. Yet the poster was widely shared. Another popular meme is that Denmark is a socialist country and we should be just like Denmark. Except Denmark is not a socialist country – and that is according to the Prime Minister of Denmark.
A left wing group launches a secret propaganda operation to combat secret right wing propaganda operations. Funded with 81 staff, the program will uses tools of propaganda theory and the new tools of social media to direct messaging at individuals by identifying their personal emotional hot buttons. Right wing groups are likely conducting similar propaganda operations but their battle plans have not been published for all to see.
What can we do about this? Walk away from social media and avoid voluntarily signing up for mind control and manipulation operations. We are entering a dangerous era well beyond WW II and Soviet-era propaganda.
How propaganda techniques are used to promote legislation. In this case, a specific individual is highlighted to emotionally hook others into supporting the bill. Arguments for the first law were shaped by referring to it as “Max’s Law” to connect it to a specific individual. Arguments for the second law were shaped by referring to it as “Jenna’s Law”. The key technique is to personalize the topic to emotionally engage the target that needs persuading: legislators, and potentially lobbyists and…
Not surprisingly, the leaky data sieve that is Facebook, had its trove of personal data accessed from Russia and other countries (which likely includes the U.S.?): The now infamous Facebook data set on tens of millions of Americans gathered by a Cambridge University scientist for a firm that went on to worked for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign was accessed from Russia, a British member of parliament tells CNN. Source: Cambridge Analytica’s Facebook data was accessed from Russia, MP says As…
Once enabled, Samba TV can track nearly everything that appears on the TV on a second-by-second basis, essentially reading pixels to identify network shows and ads, as well as programs on Netflix and HBO and even video games played on the TV. Samba TV has even offered advertisers the ability to base their targeting on whether people watch conservative or liberal media outlets and which party’s presidential debate they watched. …. Samba TV can also identify other devices in the…
Occupy Democrats is an online, social media-based, for profit publisher of emotion laden political propaganda posters targeting those who view themselves as left wing. In 2016, Occupy Democrats used social media to distribute this propaganda through shares and likes. Every claim on this widely distributed and shared poster is essentially false – or two that are highly misleading at best (see links below for excruciating details.) Note their last item: SHARE if America should follow their lead! Occupy Democrats wants…
The City of West Sacramento is using software to continuously analyze social media posts on Facebook and Twitter, saying it gives the city government insights into citizen concerns. The pilot project gives city leaders a look at what’s trending in the city, whether it’s good or bad. Is the content of social media reflective of what people actually care about? What if, entirely hypothetical, of course, an organization decided to flood social media with emotional and inflammatory posts about a…
The NY Times writes in “Speaking Freely About Politics Can Cost You Your Job” that private sector workers ‘ “…don’t have the right to speak freely in the workplace.” Or even outside it.’ Unlike public sector workers: “… anyone who works for a government office, whether local, state or federal, is for the most part protected by the First Amendment”. Public sector workers have a greater free speech right than do private sector workers (which is most of the workers…
If we engaged in widely publicized hateful or hurtful or vile speech, our employers would likely begin job termination procedures within 24 hours regardless of whether we made such comments in a private capacity or not. As the NY Times notes, “Speaking Freely About Politics Can Cost You Your Job“. Private sector workers ‘ “…don’t have the right to speak freely in the workplace.” Or even outside it.’ Unlike public sector workers: “… anyone who works for a government office,…
Until literally a few days before, this entire ad sales team at Facebook was literally telling every politician with any budget that Facebook can actually hand them the election. It is incredibly disingenuous and strange for an exec to get up and say that there’s no way Facebook could have potentially impacted the election. Source: Antonio Garcia Martinez, former Facebook Employee Interview One of many Zuckerberg lies. It blew my mind when when the CEO of an advertising company (FB)…
Facebook’s website had an entire section devoted to touting the “success stories” of political campaigns that used the social network to influence electoral outcomes. That page, however, is now gone, even as the 2018 congressional primaries get underway. Source: Facebook Quietly Hid Webpages Bragging of Ability to Influence Elections
Perhaps at some point in the past few years you’ve told Facebook that you like, say, Kim Kardashian West. …. What you probably missed is that researchers had figured out how to tie your interest in Ms. Kardashian West to certain personality traits, such as how extroverted you are (very), how conscientious (more than most) and how open-minded (only somewhat). And when your fondness for Ms. Kardashian West is combined with other interests you’ve indicated on Facebook, researchers believe their…
Mark Zuckerberg believes North America users of his platform deserve a lower data protection standard than people everywhere else in the world. Source: Facebook to exclude North American users from some privacy enhancements | TechCrunch