Social media – will it help win the 2020 US Presidential Election?
In previous years, elections were won and lost through television debates, campaigning on voter’s doorsteps and by politicians touring the country for weeks on end. However, in 2020, the political landscape is entirely different to how it has been in previous years.
Not only has social media started to play a role in the US Presidential Elections, but highly targeted ads that utilise personal user data seem to be having such a significant impact that it begs the questions – just how much influence do these social media platforms have? And in turn, how fair and unbiased are the elections?
Social media and the 2016 Presidential Election
Although candidates had used social media in previous elections, the 2016 Presidential Election was the one where it came to prominence, with Co-Founder of SocialFlow Frank Speiser claiming “this is the first true social media election“.
However, the election was not without its share of allegations and wrong-doing. Two social media controversies arose after the election. The first was a Facebook data breach.
Over 87 million Facebook users’ personal data was gathered without consent by Cambridge Analytica. The data was collected through a Facebook app and sold to political campaigners, including Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
The breach was confirmed in 2018 by a former Cambridge Analytica employee who testified against the company. It resulted in Cambridge Analytics being disbanded and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying in front of the US Congress, publicly apologising for the errors that were made.
The second controversy was that of the Russian government interfering in the election, creating thousands of social media accounts and paid advertisements across multiple platforms that were pro-Donald Trump and anti-Hilary Clinton.
Though it is hard to determine whether this interference led to Trump winning the Presidency or whether other factors contributed, social media platforms were criticised for not doing enough to stop the spread of what has now come to be known as ‘fake news’.
So, what measures were brought into place after these scandals?
Facebook reacted to the Russian interference by bringing in new transparency policies for social media advertisements. Now political advertisers have to provide evidence of their identity and location before they can create ads, and they are only able to serve such ads in the country that they reside.
Twitter also pledged to do more to identify suspicious accounts and improve account verification measures.
In response to Cambridge Analytica, Facebook suspended thousands of apps that they saw as inappropriately using customer data, with a promise to give users more control over their data in the years to come.
For some countries, these measures did not go far enough, and they decided to take matters into their own hands.
The German Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (Network Enforcement Act or NetzDG for short) came into force in October 2017 and obliged social network providers to delete or block unlawful content within seven days of receiving a complaint, or risk a fine.
So that’s what happened in the past but how is social media being used in the final weeks of the 2020 election?
People using social media to get their political news
62% of Americans get their news through social media platforms, and it is easy to see why:
- People can access social media through their mobile phone, 24 hours a day
- They can follow the news networks and politicians they choose, creating their own curated feed
- Social media is updated regularly, meaning users can always be up to date with the latest news
- Information is provided in easy to understand formats like videos, cartoons, graphs, infographics, and even memes
- People can share stories with their own networks, and comment with their opinions
Candidates using social media to reach out to voters
Before the introduction of social media, candidates could only reach out to potential voters with rallies, debates, leaflets and newsletters. They can now reach out using social media, meaning they can appeal to a broader range of people, as well as those not necessarily in their jurisdiction.
Social media also makes communication a two-way street. Candidates can message voters, and voters can message them back. It makes the whole process more inclusive and is more effective at involving citizens in the democratic process.
However, let’s not forget for all the advantages of social media; there are disadvantages too:
The risk of manipulated data
Even though political platforms put more stringent measures in place after 2016, social media can still be used to manipulate voters.
On 15 July 2020, a range of high-profile Twitter accounts were hacked, including the corporate accounts of both Uber and Apple, as well as the personal accounts of both Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
It got to the point that Twitter temporarily blocked all verified accounts from tweeting. The issue was resolved quickly, but if it had happened closer to November with political candidates, it could have had a major impact on the election results.
If a message came from Donald Trump or Joe Biden before the election saying they were withdrawing from the race, the fallout would be catastrophic.
The spread of misinformation
News on social media can spread quickly, and this is something that is both an advantage and a disadvantage.
Misinformation can be anything from a misunderstanding to an intentional slight on a candidate, party or policy. Once this information is out in the public domain, it can be hard to take back.
For example, right-wing news website Breitbart posted a video claiming masks don’t protect you from COVID-19. This video racked up 20 million views on Facebook before it was taken down. Even when it was removed, the video continued to be posted on other social media platforms.
The only effective way to halt the spread of misinformation is to remove offending posts. Facebook claims to have removed 22.5 million posts containing hate speech between April and June this year, significantly more than they had in the first quarter of the year.
Social networks are now encouraging users to think before they post. Twitter is testing a feature that asks users to read a post before they retweet it, and is hoping to bring it to all users in the near future.
Social media platforms have admitted things still need to be done, with Mark Zuckerberg saying the lead up to the election could be “a very heated period“.
Facebook has advised new political ads will be banned on its platform in the week leading up to 3 November and will apply warning labels to posts that may undermine the election’s outcome. Any posts from candidates declaring victory before the official results come in will also be flagged.
Twitter similarly advised it will remove or add labels to any tweets that claim false results or that incite unlawful conduct. Some posts may be kept up, but will only be viewable by those who follow the account.
Even Pinterest, a social media platform generally not associated with politics, has stated it will remove or limit the viewability of posts with misleading content, and no longer show any ads to users searching for election-related information.
Social media platforms have also banned and restricted social media access to key players in the election. Donald Trump Jr was banned from Twitter for 12 hours in July following a post about COVID-19, showing nobody is exempt.
Most recently, Facebook and Twitter banned users from sharing links to a story about Hunter Biden. It is alleged in the story that emails were illegally retrieved from a computer containing his personal data.
The move came under criticism as both platforms were accused of controlling the news, something they have pledged not to do. Following the backlash, Twitter advised that while they stood by their decision to block the story about Hunter Biden, they would look at labelling similar stories in the future as potentially being misleading, rather than blocking the content altogether.
Summary
Social media can be a double-edged sword for political candidates. It allows them to interact more and broadcast their opinions but conversely, those opinions are open to a lot more scrutiny.
Social media grows and evolves fast. A lot of changes were made in light of the issues raised by the 2016 election and changes are still being made in the final few weeks of the 2020 election.
This is not only down to people using social media differently but due to more and more data being available. Currently, 500 million Tweets are sent every single day!
More people using social media means more information and a higher risk of misinformation. Can social media platforms keep up with this immense volume of posts?
Trump has even advised if he remains President after the election, he will go as far as to repeal section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. This act protects social media platforms against liability for anything posted by third parties.
Repealing the act could mean platforms like Facebook and Twitter would be legally accountable for the content that their users’ post, changing the way social media is used and censored yet again.
It will be interesting to see how social media continues to be used in the lead up to the 3 November election, and beyond. Will social media be criticised as unfairly influencing the election? Will Mark Zuckerberg be hauled in front of congress again to account for his wrongdoings? Or will the 2020 election mark a turning point in the perception of social media? Perhaps it will instead be seen as a force for positive change and a more free and democratic way for information to be disseminated to the masses? One thing is for sure – time will certainly tell.
References:
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/oct/14/facebook-twitter-new-york-post-hunter-biden
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/oct/07/facebook-stop-political-ads-policy-3-november
- https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/technology/four-election-related-falsehoods.html
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54311383
- https://www.taylorwessing.com/download/article-germany-nfa-impact-social.html
- https://www.state.gov/elections-101-the-role-of-social-media-in-us-elections
- https://time.com/5892347/social-media-platforms-bracing-for-election/
- https://www.wired.com/story/inside-twitter-hack-election-plan/