Has social media made the UK more right wing?

[Postman Pep]

Fairly obviously I’m to the right of centre.

I meant the sub-forum spectrum that you have constructed. In that context you sit on the far right. It is about as realistic almost a third of posters being far left.

So I’m in the very small minority of posters.

Call that a minority ... you want to try being in a gang of 4 ;-)

Ah well that's probably just due to the nature of forums where the people who speak most speak loudest. There's 4 posters who are responsible for 90% of the anti-Startmer and anti-Labour posts.

We see 100 posts and think it's a mainstream opinion, but then you realise it's just the same few people posting and liking each other's posts.

 

[Kompany Car]

Run by a neo liberal whilst Musk thinks he's being edgy with X turning it into an extremist cesspit that pays for his space dick launch.

Wrong megalomaniac, Bond-esque supervillain. The one with the cock shaped rocket is Bezos.

 

[TinFoilHat]

Wrong megalomaniac, Bond-esque supervillain. The one with the cock shaped rocket is Bezos.

I thought Bezos space cock had a tip whilst Elon's has been cut?

 

[Kompany Car]

I would hesitate, though, to pronounce on the exact political positioning of individuals. A simple left/right axis is a tad outdated.

This inherently is the problem with most things these days. The media and politicians have a need to put people in specific boxes, when in reality its much more nuanced.

I know personally that on some issues my views are left wing but on others right wing and my opinions on some subjects have changed through talking to people and gaining a better understanding. We are all a product of our own upbringing, experiences and learning, but being multifaceted doesn't fit with traditional pigeon hole politics.

 

[blueinsa]

Then, I don’t understand why my left leaning tendencies get shoveled all this right wing shit, unless I somehow engaged with it without thinking it through a long while ago?! Regardless, it has made it almost unreadable!

I stick to Ice Hockey, everything else gets blocked.

It has its downsides though as I’m sick to fucking death of hearing about Hull Seahawks, hate the cunts but there you have it, pick a topic like politics and guess what you will get?

Damn algorithms.

 

[inbetween]

I would say that about 30% of people on here are far left, probably another 35% are more moderately left wing but still definitely to the left (although it could be vice versa) then there’s about 25% who are in the middle with the remainder sitting on the right. Although having said that, 10% seems quite high for the right of centre.

It’s definitely not a normal distribution of political views.

I'll rephrase what I said and I think this is important - I think the politics forum on here is mostly left leaning with a sprinkling of far left. It makes sense that the most politically energised people would participate in the politics part of the forum and also the demographic of this forum reflects Manchester which like any city is left leaning.

People on here would probably say that I'm right leaning but you should hear the views of the people I work with and those in the pub etc! I've been called a lefty on many occasions!

Perceptions shape how we view the world and social media just heightens those perceptions. The fact is though there is no domination of the right or left and social media has no impact on that, the core UK voting demographic sits slap bang in the centre. Those people aren't going to change their views because they just aren't really interested in politics.

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

I think there's a very unhealthy strain of racism aroun d the places I work and live and my friends and family. I thought it had subsided but its more prevelant than ever. I predict Reform are going to do well in the next elections, there's a lot of fear and anger.

 

[grunge]

While that is part of it there algorithms are screwed, I get so much random shite.

You can see the suggestion loop it goes through. Anti Vegan->Anti Woke->Conspiracies->Gun nuts->Hunting->God botherers->back to the start and reloop and maybe add a new one into the mix the next time around. in the last few months I started to get lots of Thai sites and nightclubs being suggested. I have never shown any interest in going to Thailand!. the only thing I can think of is I went to a funeral for a mate who passed away and his wife is Thai and therefore there were a lot thai people at the funeral, it was a day or 2 after than I started getting all the random Thai posts.

I think I've blocked a good couple of thousand suggested pages over the last few years due to being total random nonsense. I actually think my block list is so long that I've made it even more confused to be honest :)

I appear to be entering the "gun nut and conspiracy" phase again as of today.

 

[urban genie]

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, plenty of left wing stuff on there, but as most social media is american owned then conservative values and right wing views are projected more.

 

[SebastianBlue]

I see this thread has remained rational and civil, as is the norm for the Politics Subforum.

Even extending to completely scientific and cogent estimations of the political alignment distribution of the forum, backed by unassailable data, and based in a complex, inclusive ideological assessment system.