Has social media made the UK more right wing?

[domalino]

I think people are going to vote Labour because of their own personal experience of living under the Tories more than anything else. A lot of the criticism of the Tories (and Brexit) over the last 14 years has been theoretical, ideological, or affecting 'someone else.' I think we've finally got to the stage where almost everyone, not just 'benefit scroungers,' young families and the working classes, has suffered a drop in living standards. Even people on low six figure incomes are noticing the problems now. Mortgage prices up, energy prices up, taxes up, and every public service delivering a worse service. I reckon that's got more to do with it than Twitter.

On the main question, I think people have short memories tbh. I remember when the whole political discourse was determined by a handful of right-wing media sources. The Sun and the Star were doing "PC-gone-mad" long before the "woke brigade" was a term. Explicitly homophobic and racist headlines were commonplace.

There's definitely an argument that it makes this more polarized, but let's not pretend that people reading these newspapers back in the day were getting some sort of carefully curated, balanced view of the news.

I think it's made some people more extreme in general, but that's not exclusive to the right wing. Out-and-out conspiracies are definitely more of an issue though, because as bad as the newspapers above are, they do have a certain amount of legal responsibility that doesn't exist for social media.

The big difference between social media and older forms of media is how precisely you are targeted. The Sun might target pensioners, or corbyn supporters, or people with degrees.

Social media is targeting people with a precise sex, age, location, interests, dislikes, browsing history, screen activity when shown certain posts, susceptibility to clicking on adverts or likelihood to block people etc. They are tracking everything.


In a few years, someone will release a study where they manage to take a bunch of seemingly normal people, take over their twitter or instagam feed and radicalise them 100% via social media. Here's Lawrence, 5 years ago he was a happily married, upper middle class, reasonably popular actor, now he's a broke divorced dad who sells his outrage and votes for extremists.

It could be a centrist who becomes a reform voter, it could be a western liberal muslim who ends up in the ISIS rabbit hole, a sane person who becomes a rabid anti-vaxxer.

At that point I think people will finally get it - we're all just data points, and for the right price social media companies will get us from point A to point B with alarming success.

 

[Kirkstall Blue]

I am quite new to facebook and its full of right wing stuff, i have been on twitter for years and that is a pit of hatred. Who needs the Daily Mail when you get hate for free on social media.

Am i wrong? whats your experiences?

Facebook is fine if you use the same caution you would use in normal everyday interaction, I have twelve family and friends on my account.
Twitter the same cautious approach with two main interests music and occasionally politics

Overall the people running news programmes are in it for themselves occasionally you get a newsreader who can deliver a factual item without letting their colours show. Most can’t they have salary's in the upper middle class bracket so rightly try to protect their lifestyle.

Take football City and financial fair play nothing fair about it the media have turned us into a money making clickbait area by writing false stories, proving the power they have at generating money at City’s expense I’m never sucked in if I want football news I’ll check the forum

 

[blueinsa]

False equivalency.

X is a right wing cesspit.

I only go on X if there is a link on here, but if I look at the next video underneath the City video, it is nearly always some right wing political bullshit (I’m not!), something religious (I’m not!), or some classroom/gang fight (in which I have zero interest and find repulsive). If I hit “For you” I get more of that, but if I hit “Follow” I get none of it because I don’t follow any if that other BS!

I don’t do any other social media, and I’m glad I don’t!

I didn’t mention x or any other platform but my experience is, you get shovelled down your neck exactly what you want to hear and read and it’s an echo chamber.

Left and right, just as biased, just as bad as each other and just as fucking crazy.

 

[domalino]

I didn’t mention x or any other platform but my experience is, you get shovelled down your neck exactly what you want to hear and read and it’s an echo chamber.Left and right, just as biased, just as bad as each other and just as fucking crazy.

I can see the attraction of saying "they're all as bad as each other" but unfortunately it is demonstrably false.

 

[Phil1]

It’s just helped bring the loonies to the fore that’s all. They’ve always been around in one way shape or form but now they get to bore the fucking world instead of just the poor cunts in the local they used to sidle up to.

The extreme right need wiping out. They won’t be though and at some point the world will once again turn to shit with the aftermath being leaders of the world telling us we need to learn our lesson.
Until another 50 or so years go by and we do it all again.

 

[stonerblue]

I am quite new to facebook and its full of right wing stuff, i have been on twitter for years and that is a pit of hatred. Who needs the Daily Mail when you get hate for free on social media.

Am i wrong? whats your experiences?

No. I't's just given the wankers a platform for us all to hear their shite

 

[stonerblue]

Twitter is unbelievable now, it used to be good for a laugh but now my feed is somehow filled with absolute shite, it’s just a sess pit, I used to use it for up to date news etc but now it’s full of nutters, and conspiracy theorists. I hope it sinks without a trace and soon, I don’t think many sane people use it anymore.

Odd that as almost every post on here these days has a twitter link..

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

It’s just helped bring the loonies to the fore that’s all. They’ve always been around in one way shape or form but now they get to bore the fucking world instead of just the poor cunts in the local they used to sidle up to.

The extreme right need wiping out. They won’t be though and at some point the world will once again turn to shit with the aftermath being leaders of the world telling us we need to learn our lesson.
Until another 50 or so years go by and we do it all again.

A lot of it is to do with global economic hard times, as we head towards a Victorian period balance of wealth and most folk feel their standard of living diminishing.
Immigrants, minorities become useful scapegoats for the wealthy and the right wing - as you point out history repeating itself.

 

[Phil1]

A lot of it is to do with global economic hard times, as we head towards a Victorian period balance of wealth and most folk feel their standard of living diminishing.
Immigrants, minorities become useful scapegoats for the wealthy and the right wing - as you point out history repeating itself.

Human nature will ensure it’s rinse and repeat until it’s all over for everyone.

Can’t wait.

 

[inbetween]

The big difference between social media and older forms of media is how precisely you are targeted. The Sun might target pensioners, or corbyn supporters, or people with degrees.

Social media is targeting people with a precise sex, age, location, interests, dislikes, browsing history, screen activity when shown certain posts, susceptibility to clicking on adverts or likelihood to block people etc. They are tracking everything.


In a few years, someone will release a study where they manage to take a bunch of seemingly normal people, take over their twitter or instagam feed and radicalise them 100% via social media. Here's Lawrence, 5 years ago he was a happily married, upper middle class, reasonably popular actor, now he's a broke divorced dad who sells his outrage and votes for extremists.

It could be a centrist who becomes a reform voter, it could be a western liberal muslim who ends up in the ISIS rabbit hole, a sane person who becomes a rabid anti-vaxxer.

At that point I think people will finally get it - we're all just data points, and for the right price social media companies will get us from point A to point B with alarming success.

I actually think that social media targets everybody in a way that is far more inclusive than you think. Nothing sums it up more than the title of this thread because I know that Rascal sits on the far left. His views mean that quite literally anything will sit to the right of him so of course the perception will be that social media is dominated by the right.

The majority of this forum similarly sits on the left and sometimes far left so of course many people are going to be concerned on here about this 'rise' of the right. However, the reality is it couldn't be further from the truth, it's just that normal, common opinions appear to be on the right. I mean look at the polling for the next election, if we're all being influenced to the true right then how are Labour set to win a landslide election this year?

What many people on here hate is the fact that most average and relatively apolitical people do not sit on the left, instead they mostly sit in the centre and centrist votes are often not decided by ideological lines. The reason why there is concern over the picture painted to centrists above all else is because it is this group that will decide any election.

At the end of the day you cannot have a socialist utopia or a far right empire unless the centrists agree to it. This is why both the right and left hate the way in which social media operates, it's because social media generates profit from participation from all corners of the spectrum.