General Discussion

The theme of outrage I see on DU regarding why the race is so close given how often Trump lies and the fact that he is largely avoiding interviews by regular journalists is based on an outdated understanding of where millions of Americans get their news and information, which is social media.

Unlike traditional journalism, there is no vetting of stories, particularly stories that are recommended, based on accuracy. To the contrary, stories are recommended based on propensity to click, which favors outrageous, emotionally laden, conspiracy filled stories. Thus, the more outrageous and detached a candidate is, particularly when they are supported by a cult like following, the more likely misinformation will spread as was the case in Philippines.

Worse, with social media, there is no warning that indicates the social media recommendations are not based on accuracy or reliability even though you would normally believe that a recommendation would be based on accuracy. In other words, with Yelp or Amazon, people generally tend to prefer products and vendors with a lot of recommendations. In contrast, with social media, a video will gain traction if it repeatedly clicked regardless of accuracy. There is no disclosure regarding the ranking algorithm that social media platforms use. Indeed, many users of social media are under the assumption that social media is more reliable, because it is based on their own searches, because they do not know the basis for why certain stories are recommended and pushed.

https://www.nationthailand.com/blogs/perspective/40015561