Facebook Ads Have Ruined American Democracy
Social media platforms are a risk for democracy
Imagine an alien logging into Facebook from outer space. It is trying to understand what makes America tick before they decide to visit here or not.
Facebook should be a good means to understand how people vote, what they are influenced by and what they want from their President. Seems there is an election coming up in November 2020.
The alien gathers some scary data before sending it to the Chief Alien who asked it to find some info on the following key questions.
How much is spent on Facebook ads and why?
Donald Trump knows that they are extremely effective and they played a very big role in his being elected in 2016. Many people point the finger at Russian collaboration but there are no reliable facts about this from verifiable sources.
One expert, Andrew Bosworth, said
“ He (Trump) got elected because he ran the single best ad campaign I have ever seen from any advertiser. Period.”
It seems that Trump in 2019, gearing up for the 2020 election, has already spent $20m. Not far behind is the Democrat Tom Steyer ($17m). The Democrat Mike Bloomberg has recently joined the race, but his spending is already $5.7 million more than Trump’s in the last month alone. He seems geared to beat Trump on Facebook ad spending, whatever the result. Some estimates put that at six times as much as Trump’s!
Why are they using Facebook ads?
They all have one thing in common. Subscribers get some reward. Just by clicking on an ad or responding to a questionnaire you can get any or several of the following:-
- Invites to eat a pizza with the candidate
- Free or discounted merch
- Tickets to political rallies
- Sign a birthday card for the candidate’s relatives!
Most people who click will be giving their email or cell phone number in order to receive their gift. Thankfully some people are wary of that but they are in a minority.
This vital information is used by the campaign manager and Facebook to spy on everything the witless voter might want to say, think, write, envy or buy until the day they die. The Facebook algorithm decides their personalized news feed.
They are then targeted with more ads giving out (very often) false rhetoric on the dangers of a biased and witch-hunting press not to mention the invasion by immigrants.
Clicking on an emoji is enough to express your
- Fear
- Anger
- Hatred
- Suspicion
- Them vs Us
The Bloomberg Facebook ad campaign is remarkably similar to Trump’s but with a slightly different message. These concentrate on where Trump has failed:-
- Deficit
- Health care
- Government shutdown
- Failed immigration policy as the border wall will never be effective.
- Endorsed ice cream and pizza to get the junk food vote.
- Spouted anti-Trump memes to get the meme crowd on board
What are the threats to American democracy?
- Facebook refuses to check the facts in political ads. Mark Zuckerberg says that it is up to the consumer to check the facts with reliable press sources and make their own judgments! Facebook cannot be the referee it seems. That is for the spectators.
So, millions of dollars are spent in spouting fake news, doubtful claims, conspiracy theories, and all the other rubbish just to get a click and then a vote. This spreading of misinformation is a bomb about to cripple our democracy. Thanks Mark. Protests have already started outside his San Francisco home.
2. Facebook’s audience is a quarter of the world’s population. It cannot be allowed to act as a massive manipulator of public opinion.
3. Every Facebook user, no matter how savvy, is putting their privacy and their online behavior at risk. It also undermines our critical thinking abilities which is essential when we vote in a democratic election.
4. Democracy is not for sale. The Democrats are extremely worried about this as witnessed by Bernie Sanders’ remark:-
“Look: Bloomberg — anybody else in America — has the right to run for president, but I think in a democracy, you do not have the right to buy the presidency.”
“Our great democracies still tend to think that a stupid man is more likely to be honest than a clever man, and our politicians take advantage of this prejudice by pretending to be even more stupid than nature made them.” ― Bertrand Russell, New Hopes for a Changing World
You may like to browse some other political articles I have written:-
