4 ms·
Tools used to exercise political influences are getting more sophisticated and powerful, but the gameplay was always the same. Before it was Radio London, then
by ivanhoe 9y ago
Tools used to exercise political influences are getting more sophisticated and powerful, but the gameplay was always the same. Before it was Radio London, then radio Free Europe, and in countries where it was possible local TVs and radios financed directly or indirectly from US or Russia to promote their views. Now it's social medias. Superpowers were always doing this to others and the only new thing here is that this is the first time it was successfully used against one of them. For the rest of the world, especially developing countries, this is the state of affairs for last 50+ years.
- sykh 9y agoYes. The swaying of public opinion is thousands of years old. But now it's far easier, much cheaper, and can be done at a much greater scale. This is especially so when only a few companies are really able to do this. In the U.S there has a been a consolidation of media control. Too few players have the control and so what is happening now is more dangerous.
- l33tbro 9y agoSure, but all of the examples you give are of bad actors trying to influence the opinion of the general public. In 2018, the same bad actors are using private information to change the opinions of fragments of individuals in certain electorates, who each share a certain set of beliefs/biases. The difference is huge. Why? Because when propaganda is crafted from the unique kinks of an individual and then secretly projected back at them with button-pushing messaging, it forgoes any chance of call-out from public scrutiny.