Our desk | On how social media manipulates public opinion

Lynzy Valles

A civic group recently held a forum to discuss solutions to the lack of awareness of global events on the part of local residents.

The “unmindful” groups of people were not identified, whether they were baby boomers, generation X or millennials.

Yet there could also be a doubt as to whether these groups of people are aware of what is happening – politically speaking – in this special administrative region, their country of residence.

Nevertheless, thanks to the social media where several of these local civic associations are broadcasting their talk or forum online – particularly on Facebook, an interest may still be stirred amongst followers on Facebook.

Netizens – mostly millennials I think – are generally interested in hard, straight to the point news; with pictures when possible. Yet, there have been cases where irrelevant or outdated pictures have been posted on Facebook, alongside legitimate information.

Currently, social media is one of the top sources of information – whether the information on there is false or accurate.

Some Facebook pages share websites or blogs that post current affairs – with misleading titles. These pieces significantly shift public opinion.

These matters have been occurring back in the Philippines, especially as the nation’s president commenced his controversial war on drugs.

Last year, there was a Facebook post by an alleged spokesman of Duterte’s campaign that attacked critics of the government’s administrative orders relating to its war on drugs. The spokesman stated, “Nine year-old raped and murdered and we haven’t heard condemning this brutal act from human rightists, bishops and ‘pressitutes’ who are derailing the government’s war against drugs and crime.”

Yet Rappler, an online news site based in the Philippines, stated in its report last year that the photo used in the post was taken in Brazil, not the Philippines.

This is only one of the examples of how online posts paired with pictures could mislead the public, especially those who are unaware of current affairs.

When  Duterte was still campaigning in the elections he was acquiring a massive audience especially on social media. During this time, numerous disinformation campaigns formed.

The media outlet even stated that such social media campaigns were “meant to shape public opinion, tear down reputations, and cripple traditional media institutions.”

The uses and role of social media have been increasingly significant, but social media growth has also been accompanied by the increase of fake news dissemination.

Yet social media has also been a medium for uniting netizens who share the same belief or sentiments.

When the Philippines’ Supreme Court allowed a hero’s burial for the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, thousands of Facebook and Twitter users – particularly the elite and university students – turned their profile photos pitch-black to protest the decision.

These profile photos contained texts or hash tags such as “Marcos not a hero” and #NeverForget.

Although social media has been the most convenient tool to access news and information, I still doubt whether it’s a source of information that is more reliable than traditional media.

Besides, users could create multiple fake accounts on Facebook to share paid propagandas and to manipulate netizens.

An internet bot or web robot does the trick. It is a software application that is instructed to give an automated response to posts on social media. Since this is machine-driven, the bot is capable of manufacturing thousands of posts per minute, which could create the perception of a tidal wave of public opinion.

Thus making it possible to manipulate public opinion of social media enthusiasts because even when they are not concerned about it, these users get news and commentary in their feeds.