The most interesting thing I have learned in EGL 303 came in week 9, when we discussed the weaponization of social media. As an American citizen, I have not come in contact with many war related tweets, or live streams of village raids on Twitter. However, as a 20 year old woman in the U.S, elections become more serious knowing what I know now.
During the 2016 election, Donald trump enlisted in the help of 60,000 Russian bot nets on Twitter to do his bidding. These accounts lie dormant for months, posting normal tweets and flying under the radar. As the campaign begins, they start to spew out politically charged tweets in favor of Trump, while they all retweet and favorite each other’s messages. This creates one huge voice that influences the masses.
As a 20 year old in my generation, I frequent social media, Twitter especially. This is where I find my news, because I find myself on social media more so than in front of a tv. Unfortunately, this puts me and all other social media users at risk. Knowing what I know now, my opinions were greatly altered by what I was reading online, and I’m sure many other peoples were too. This new knowledge has taught me to guard my opinions much more closely, especially when I am online. I know now that my decision on who to vote for should be kept separate from what I see on Twitter, because what’s online is most likely what other countries want me to see.
I do not want my decision to be influenced by Russians, and I do not want a president who chooses to manipulate his citizens in this way. It is extremely unethical, and it takes advantage of the many social media users in this country. This information also inspires me to let other people know where their opinions are coming from. It is sad to think that I was so effectively steered wrong in this previous election, and I hope to impact others enough so that this practice can be gotten rid of. I hope our democracy remains intact, and future presidents do not resort to this malicious tactic.
-Sydney
Sydney's Blog 