Social Media Manipulation

Haven't politicians lied to us since time immemorial? What's new?
Just the manipulative power of social media.

And it is impossible to check the veracity and origins of such outpourings, they can use 'blameless' agents for that.
In just the same way as the vey rich hide their dealing in shell corprations and tax havens.

But then when people believe what they read about the Royals in the press and talk about it subsequetly as if it is fact, ("Kate if fighting with Meghan, ooooh!") I doubt anyone will be 'savvy' enough to do anything but gobble it all up.

Social media cannot be trusted! But then again what can? Everything we see or read is presented from a point of view. One persons fact is another’s propaganda. Most of the press only wants to sell papers and give the headline grabbing morsels and some of the story. Social media exacerbates this insidious tendency.

This is just an opinion but just don’t take so called reliable sources as gospel and if possible, do further checking.

I agree that this election is dreadful for misinformation. 1984 anyone?

Why not just not read them? This election is so boring, that I have not once followed it up on social media, I skim the papers and ignore the television. I do, however listen to Radio 4. That is more than sufficient.

I notice people always think social media is persuasive for other people, not themselves. If you can see through it, dont you think that the majority of people can also?

It's not just social media though, is it? There isn't a level playing field in the newspapers either. While I'm not a Labour Party supporter, I loathe the bullying and misinformation that is rife. See the following quote from The Independent newspaper:-

Negative press coverage of Labour’s election campaign has intensified, while coverage of the Tories remains positive overall, new analysis shows.

During the third week of the election campaign, a Loughborough University study found a persistent gulf between media reporting on Jeremy Corbyn’s party and the Conservatives under Boris Johnson.

Labour commands the highest number of column inches of all the parties, the study found, but academics said the greater prominence “should not be assumed to deliver a political advantage to the opposition”.

Sadly, MOnica, no. That's why we have an orange-faced moron for president in the US.

I feel deprived that I have had not been targeted with any ads

The worry about social media is the use of targeted adverts. The only people who see those adverts are the people who are targeted; no-one else knows what is being claimed in the adverts and so there is no opportunity to counter falsehoods or put a different point of view. This subverts democracy. All information given in a campaign should be freely available for all who care to see it. Whether one chooses to see it is another matter but it should be available.

Elections should be 'free and fair'; restricting campaign material to only people who have been targeted because their data indicates that they would be susceptible to it is grossly unfair.

Goodness, I only get bombarded on FB by the National Trust!
Plus lists of 'people I may know' (no, I don't)

How come others receive all this stuff?

Only the weak-minded will not have made their minds up by now, everyone else is probably beyond propaganda at this point

Social media may have little effect on Grannies but it does have a huge influence on younger folk.

The fact is that the party with the most money to spend is the party that has the greatest influence on social media

Guess which party that is?

Exactly varian.