Social Media, Influencer Culture, Misinformation, and the Threat to Democratic Discourse

Program Type:

Community Education, Other, Special Events, Technology

Age Group:

Teens, Adults, Seniors
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Event Details

Politicians around the world have moved to using social media as a means of primary outreach, which has undermined the role of professional journalists in transmitting the political and policy positions of parties. Furthermore, social media influencers and podcasters are often more influential than newsrooms, thus reducing of the role of mainstream media as a go-between for political communication.

This has increased the scope for propaganda and manipulation by politicians, which is further exacerbated when they pressure social media companies to do their bidding. Layered over this are unknown elements of AI-generated content, which researchers are still struggling to make sense of in political campaigns. In this talk we examine cases from around the world where politicians have captured the social media discourse to the disadvantage of their rivals (and sometimes the truth), and consider the risks for the US elections in 2024.
 
Talk presented by Dr. Joyojeet Pal. Dr. Pal is an Associate Professor of Information at the School of Information at the University of Michigan. His work is on the role of technology in political outreach and polarization. He received his PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.