Online disinformation and hate speech are poisoning politics the world over, but in South Korea there have also been real-life acts of violence in a deeply polarised electorate before polls on Wednesday.
South Korea's famously adversarial politics is being supercharged by online disinformation and hate speech before Wednesday's elections, analysts say. Photo: ANTHONY WALLACE / AFPthe world over, but in South Korea there have also been real-life acts of violence in a deeply polarised electorate before polls on Wednesday.
Wednesday's parliamentary poll will decide whether the opposition Democratic Party can grow its majority and further weaken conservative President Yoon Suk Yeol and his People Power Party .But online rhetoric has focused more on the personalities of the main candidates and the outlandish dangers that, if some of the thousands of social media posts are to be believed, the parties supposedly represent.
Politics is famously adversarial in South Korea, where two of the past three presidents have ended up in jail on corruption charges. "What previously was absorbed through the consumer's voluntary participation is now subliminally propagated as users unwittingly access the web or browse YouTube videos, making such messages ever more dangerous," Lee Jae-kook told AFP.South Korea's main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung addresses supporters before parliamentary elections on Wednesday.
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