" ...62% of adults in the United States get news from social media.,[6] as well as three-fourths who say they get news from e-mail or social media sites updates, according to a report published by CNN. The survey suggests that Facebook and Twitter make news a more participatory experience than before as people share news articles and comment on other people's posts. According to CNN, in 2010 75% of people got their news forwarded through e-mail or social media posts, whereas 37% of people shared a news item via Facebook or Twitter."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_as_a_news_source
And there's your problem. The thickos actually prefer the propaganda channels where campaign funds are increasingly used to make false claims and smear the opposition. There seems little doubt that malign state actors are also swamping social media with material designed to undermine democratic societies. It's not nuclear weapons we need to defend ourselves against any more.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/14/russia-us-politics-social-media-facebook
I doubt whether western governments are doing nearly enough about this. They can't measure it, they don't understand it, so they can't deal with it.
FB, twitter etc. are the favourite conduit for conspiracy theories, fake news, manipulation of all kinds. Yet many perceive them to be more trustworthy than traditional mainstream journalism.
The more fantastic the theories, the more the lumpen masses lap them up. What I might see as proof of Trump's near-insanity, only confirms to them that he is right with his outlandish claims and theories that they find far more appealing than serious commentary in the Washington Post or the NY Times.
There's every chance he could be re-elected.
And are we in the UK really much better off? It's hard to see how the brainwashing can be stopped. The structures beneath the politicians that should be running the country are being dismantled when we need them the most. It really does feel like the start of a new Dark Age.
But maybe there's hope. Johnson looks finished, by Brexit, by COVID-19, by his own illness, by corruption, by cronyism and by sheer incompetence. Given we can't shift them for five years, is there someone in the Conservative party with the support and the courage to get us back on track?
It would certainly help if Trump gets chucked out. Why oh why couldn't the Democrats have come up with a better candidate?
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