Writing the 2019 Election: Beware of the Bots and the Trolls in the Polls By Ismail Lagardien
Social media is just one of the elements in the misinformation amplification system. Every journalist is on social media, and that’s where they find stories and disseminate it on to radio, print and TV. A perfect example is theagenda – pushed on Twitter, picked up and amplified by media, and suddenly became part of the lexicon of the general South African population.
It is important, Strydom explained that the veracity of information is checked, and the source of the news is considered. The more reputable an institution or media source, the more serious one should take the news and information. Moreover, it is usually good to start by asking questions about wilful provocation. The fear and loathing factor is probably the key.Fear or rage would drive an emotive agenda and offer ‘saviours’ and ‘villains’ and may not necessarily actively dissecting information.
Bots, are constantly, and increasingly, behaving like real people. They contribute to the spread of misinformation by sharing false stories across social media platforms. Because they are, actually, just lines of code, hundreds and thousands of them can be orchestrated to share the same information or news reports – even if they are completely false. Users then repost these stories and information cascades.
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