Photo courtesy of Getty Images
Madeline Thomas
mt688819@ohio.edu
First came the Tweets from trolls, then influencers started misleading followers with ads, and now AI-created characters are infiltrating social media platforms. The internet is dangerous, especially when people know how to bend it to their will. Twitter trolls, Instagram influencers, and other cunning computer geniuses use social media platforms to promote their agendas and mislead the public.
Twitter trolls have been around since the beginning of Twitter (aka March 21st, 2006), but they seem to come out of the woodwork during presidential campaigns. As a Rolling Stone article noted in 2019, "Our research has shown Russia strategically employed social media to build support on the right for Trump and lower voter turnout on the left for Clinton." It is not always easy to spot a fake Twitter account. Still, as social media continues to grow, it is essential to investigate news sources, especially when they come from social media platforms.
Every other person I meet is trying to become an Instagram or TikTok influencer, but there is a lot of responsibility that comes with such a public profession. Without transparency, followers cannot trust the influencers that they follow, which is why celebrities like Kim Kardashian and her family members have had to clarify time and time again that their posts on social media are paid advertisements. Micro-influencers face backlash for not appropriately captioning their pictures and videos before posting them. The distrust between followers and influencers will continue to grow if celebrities and micro-influencers do not become consistently transparent in their posts.
Misleading people with falsely labeled advertisements are bad, but computer-generated celebrities are a whole other can of misleading worms. For two years, Miquela Sousa was portrayed as a human girl to her followers. After gaining a solid following for herself, the company that created her revealed that she is a computer-generated brand ambassador. Her parent company, Brud, curated her music, social media posts, and even her tattoos were.
Social media is not inherently wrong; it becomes untrustworthy when people intentionally use it to mislead their followers. Nothing is worse than realizing you have been lied to be a source that you deemed trustworthy. Or worse yet, when a person you idolize is not even a natural person. If people continue down this path of misinformation and false advertising, then I see nothing but more Twitter trolls, unlabeled ads, and AI influencers in our future.
.
Hi Madeline,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts through your blog post regarding social media misinformation. Although the Internet has allowed many advancements in technology and the world as a whole to take place, I agree with you that a lot of what is found on the World Wide Web is dangerous as well. As you stated perfectly, “The Internet is dangerous, especially when people know how to bend it to their will.” This is especially true during recent times. Throughout the past several years with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, social media accounts would post content regarding the virus that could easily go viral. Whether this information was true or false, many individuals were simply sitting at home, desperate for the next piece of the puzzle to come together. However useful technology is and was, especially during these times, it could also be dangerous as information about such a controversial and important topic was at the center of all conversations. Therefore, most of what was posted by this time, despite the account it came from, was believed or at least spread. Although this is just one example in a sea of many cases of the spread of misinformation, it perfectly exemplifies how news, whether verified or not, can spread at a rapid pace simply because people are intentionally using it to mislead their followers.