Radicalisation online

I suppose it depends what social media you use and how you use it. Like Allira, I use Facebook for updates from friends and families and handful of special interest groups of an entrely non-contentious. DS, and his friends are prolific users of Facebook, but again mainly for sharing information, of a trivial professional interest.

I suppose it is necessary to be out and about with an open mind and talk to people to prevent a narrow and distorted view of things.

Although I have an active fb account I don't use it much except for some closed groups. When I do skip through it it's always full of adverts for things I've already bought. I barely use Instagram either except when DD is travelling and I don't really use You tube. If anyone wants to radicalise me they'll have to make an appointment to see me and I'm quite busy!

I think there is a lot of very shallow thinking and deliberate misrepresentation to skew how people perceive things. I’m not sure that amounts to radicalisation but it does seem to push people towards a certain agenda.

As an example I saw a FB reel about knitted items featuring the top 10 boys’ names in the uk, so I opened it to see the cute babies. The usual Noah, Arthur, Theodore etc and then in at number one was Mohammed. Cue uproar. ‘British names are being banned in favour of Muslim ones’. ‘This proves that we have been taken over’. ‘Soon there’ll be nothing British left in Britain’. You know the sort of thing.

Someone pointed out that given the number of different names available, getting to number one only needed something like 0.1% to be called it (it may have been less, I don’t remember) and that a lot of Muslim boys are called Mohammed but known by another name, so it doesn’t really count anyway. She got about 5 ‘likes’ when the blatantly incorrect and racist comments got far more support.

That sort of thing is insidious and IMO more damaging than the more obvious stuff. Algorithms can be manipulated to push it at groups who would never see Britain First or Reform propaganda posted under their own names, but this was disguised as personalised knitting patterns so appeared in my feed.

I wouldn't just read the Guardian as it is so left-leaning. Read a right- leaning news channel as well to get a balanced view. Not yours, but some of the views on this site I find quite alarming - the 'I'm All Right Jack Pull the Ladder Up' brigade. Have never had to scrimp and save in their pampered lives!

Meddijess I have online subscriptions to The Guardian, The Times, Telegraph, Washington Post and New European. It is fascinating to see how differently news is portrayed, what is seen as front page news and how biased some of the coverage is.

That's a very good example of the insidious stuff, Doodledog. the drip drip drip of making our world into "us" and "them" with very loaded comments on "them" as in a whole number of cultural assumptions.

I'm genuinely not sure about the age thing as there are so many different platforms now but generally unless people have a specific interest in politics and actually do go round fact checking I think that only reading SM "news" is likely to further misinformation and rumour and lack any in-depth consideration.
So many people say "I dont listen to the news"now.

Don't usually believe blindly what I read on any social media. So time I repost before I think. There's always someone else's around to put me straight and I delete usually happens late at night 🤣
In actual fact, I don't even believe what I ready in the News Media anymore either. I'll wait til it's a proven fact and effects me.

I don't use social media so I don't have a problem. Not having any friends does help.

My school in the 60's used to encourage us to do our own research into things & be aware of propoganda / bias.

I said to mum 'my teachers say not to believe everything you read in the papers' & she got very upset & told Dad she thought my teachers were communists!

wibblywobblywobblebottom

I don't use social media so I don't have a problem. Not having any friends does help.

Gransnet is sociaal media.

M0nica

Beeches

Wyllow3 it says that since Facebook has decided to remove safeguards such as fact checking there’s a high risk of older users to believe what they read without questioning or fact checking from wider sources, while younger users tend to be more questioning

While we do get the occasional oddball on GN, by far the majority of members or remarkably measured and considered in their views - whether I agree with them or not.

I certainly have not noticed among my contemporaries any predilection to believe social media and, sorry, I really would like a link to a reputable source that gives the evidence that older social media users believe what they read without questioning and do not fact check.

I agree with you Monica and think older people much more likely to fact check than younger ones.

I don't use Facebook and I belong to Compass with it's moderate, progressive stance..

Young people are more likely to get their news from social media, it is the older age group who are more likely to use mainstream media such as the BBC. Unfortunately I have little faith in the BBC these days, their reporting seems to be days behind the 'news' in many cases. I think there is something vaguely condensing about assuming that 'our' chosen media is the accurate one, but I suppose we all do it.
I think community notes frequently works well on X and my understanding is that that is how Facebook are going to move forward.

My wife is a Facebook fan sometimes I ask what she is browsing, there are a lot of biased posts and they gain momentum, becoming opinion forming in a bad way. The temptation then is to seek out similar threads to reinforce that, rather than look for a balance.

Galaxy

Young people are more likely to get their news from social media, it is the older age group who are more likely to use mainstream media such as the BBC. Unfortunately I have little faith in the BBC these days, their reporting seems to be days behind the 'news' in many cases. I think there is something vaguely condensing about assuming that 'our' chosen media is the accurate one, but I suppose we all do it.
I think community notes frequently works well on X and my understanding is that that is how Facebook are going to move forward.

I’m not sure what you’re really saying there Galaxy. Most people, whatever age, use mainstream media for news, not necessarily the BBC. Younger people are more likely to use social media, but that doesn’t mean that they use that exclusively?

Galaxy
I think there is something vaguely condensing about assuming that 'our' chosen media is the accurate one, but I suppose we all do it.

I do not think people do that. But certain news sources and news agencies have reputations for being reliable and factually correct, others are known to have biasses, but to otherwise produce detailed reporting or hav eother advantages.

Like it or not, worldwide the BBC is seen as being factually accurate, not perfect, but less likely to publsih news that has not been fully verified and less likely to leave out news it doesn't like. Not perfect, but better than most.

Facebook is awful lately. I only stay on it for a book group and community news. Apparently people are leaving X in droves. If you didn't see the Panorama programme about Telegram, I'd advise everyone to watch it if possible. We were really shocked. Panorama: Telegram and the Russian Billionaire, it's on the BBC I-player.

M0nica

Galaxy
I think there is something vaguely condensing about assuming that 'our' chosen media is the accurate one, but I suppose we all do it.

I do not think people do that. But certain news sources and news agencies have reputations for being reliable and factually correct, others are known to have biasses, but to otherwise produce detailed reporting or hav eother advantages.

Like it or not, worldwide the BBC is seen as being factually accurate, not perfect, but less likely to publsih news that has not been fully verified and less likely to leave out news it doesn't like. Not perfect, but better than most.

Better than most certainly but they do have an editorial agenda on many issues, social media can be very biased, promoting issues that can never be achieved.

I am centre, left, and have no issues or feel in danger of being radicalised.

I don’t ever take anything I see on FB or any other social media site.

Like others here I obtain my info from a wide range of areas.

Cossy

I am centre, left, and have no issues or feel in danger of being radicalised.

I don’t ever take anything I see on FB or any other social media site.

Like others here I obtain my info from a wide range of areas.

Possibly something off thread, but I always puzzled by people seeing so much junk stuff on Facebook. I am on Facebook, I see posts from those who are signed up as my friends, and material from a few narrowly based special group I have signed up to, like my village Facebook page. I never see all this wayout stuff that so many people warn about.

Since my narrow Facebook access and GN are the limits of my social media, I only see news on accredited news sites liek the BBC and Sky, and only see others if I look for them.

M0nica

Cossy

I am centre, left, and have no issues or feel in danger of being radicalised.

I don’t ever take anything I see on FB or any other social media site.

Like others here I obtain my info from a wide range of areas.

Possibly something off thread, but I always puzzled by people seeing so much junk stuff on Facebook. I am on Facebook, I see posts from those who are signed up as my friends, and material from a few narrowly based special group I have signed up to, like my village Facebook page. I never see all this wayout stuff that so many people warn about.

Since my narrow Facebook access and GN are the limits of my social media, I only see news on accredited news sites liek the BBC and Sky, and only see others if I look for them.

Me neither, M0nica although I have had a few more annoying adverts appearing lately for clothes etc from suspect websites (delete, delete) and those silly 'reels' they think I might like, usually involving cats (no, I don't like and I'm not fond of cats either).

I do have friends suggestions from people who I presume are friends of friends but all easily ignored.
Craft sites are not unduly subversive are they?
I do wonder about the National Trust sometimes 😂