JOHNSON: Beware of political messages on social media
Let us be clear: Opening a social media app today means opening your mind to be manipulated in ways that often go unnoticed.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, knew this and bought the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, for $44 billion. That move leveraged the power of social media and laid the groundwork for President-elect Donald J. Trump to make advancements in his 2024 presidential election campaign. Of course, this may have given Trump a few more votes to help win key states.
In October 2022, Musk cemented his ownership of what was once Twitter. He claimed his aim was to create a space where freedom of speech was not limited in any way, a place where extremist and conspiracy theorists could coexist. His first plan of action to create this utopia was to unban Trump.
With Trump's ramblings going unchecked on X, Musk's plan seems to be shaping up well. Musk then broke a long-standing policy by allowing political campaign ads to run on X before the 2024 election. Under previous ownership, these ads had been banned because "political message reach should be earned, not bought," said Jack Dorsey, founder of Twitter. Musk has clearly shifted toward the politicization of social media.
Many users seemed uncomfortable with the removal of boundaries that protected against hate speech and misinformation, choosing to leave the app for other platforms like Bluesky and Meta's Threads. As progressive users leave X, more conservative users will only create a more pronounced echo chamber.
Echo chambers can be described as spaces that amplify the opinions that a group believes. Social media has become a breeding ground for these thought bubbles, especially as opinions and political stances have become increasingly polarized.
A social media user who is watching a funny compilation of memes might find themselves being inundated with extremist hate propaganda after falling down a winding rabbit hole. Platforms like YouTube understood this to be an issue and adjusted their algorithm so that watching one seemingly harmless prank video would not lead to progressively worse recommendations.
But other platforms have not been as quick to make these changes. Once a user has started to become wrapped up in extreme right-wing media, there is an entire media ecosystem that can further feed into their delusions.
There are real-world repercussions to these internet rabbit holes and echo chambers. Users may internalize the hate being spread virtually and commit violent hate crimes. For example, Wade Michael was a member of an online hate group involving white supremacy. He went on to kill six people at a Sikh temple, likely influenced by these thoughts constantly being brought up around him. The longer these forums of hate fester, the more innocent people will lose their lives.
Many may assume that the people most at risk of being sucked into these negative spaces are the older generations that lack media and technological literacy, but young people are just as at risk of being radicalized. There is a trend that younger people often find themselves being drawn to extreme ideas, and a college campus can be the perfect space for things to escalate.
College campuses often represent knowledge and diversity, making them a perfect target for alt-right groups. These extremists hope to garner support from the malleable minds on campus.
For everyone, being constantly fed what you want to hear can feel comforting because you do not have to do the mental work of finding the truth, whether the truth agrees with you or not. And people naturally want to take the easiest road, especially when finding so much information that seems to support them. But it is important that students are diligent when fact-checking to prevent falling down the slippery slope of these hate-driven groups.
Every social media user should consider double or triple checking the news on their feed and, even then, take most posts with a healthy amount of skepticism — because the alternative could mean slowly losing your mind to hate.
Lina Johnson is a sophomore in the School of Arts and Science majoring in communications. Johnson’s column, “The View from Rutgers,” runs on alternate Mondays.
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