The controversy on the role of social media: Disinformation and conspiracy theories

The influence of social media on society has been a topic of controversy since its inception.It’s estimated over three billion people use social media worldwide with about 70% of Americans believed to use at least one platform.That reach has sparked even more worry in recent weeks as the use of social media to spread falsities and conspiracy theories has become front-page news.”In 2020, we saw an increase in people using social media but at the same time we run into just a surge of conspiracy theories on there,” University of Central Florida psychology professor Chrysalis Wright said.Many of those theories revolve around the pandemic and the 2020 election. Some social media sites started flagging misleading posts.Wright says that tactic didn’t really help.”Those tags, while the intention — you know it’s with good intention — those tags actually just kind of support the views that people hold. So if they hold maybe conspiracy theory views or they believe false information and they see a post that was flagged then, to them, that just supports their views,” Wright said.Calls for social media platforms to do more have been going out for years.It wasn’t until after the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 that we saw dramatic steps taken by companies.Twitter and Facebook shut down former President Donald Trump’s accounts.Thousands of other people accused of promoting violence or spreading lies were also kicked off the platforms.”That’s an interesting situation because he is the president of the United States, so censoring him is a very interesting case. We want to hear from our elected leaders and if they are essentially having their accounts canceled online that’s going to impede that,” Joseph Uscinski said.Uscinski studies conspiracy theories at the University of Miami.He said he doesn’t think social media plays as big a role in the spread of conspiracies as many others do.”People use whatever communication technologies are available to them,” Uscinski said.He says kicking people off these larger platforms won’t do much in changing their beliefs.”Changing minds is very hard and sometimes it takes very long and involved conversations,” Uscinski said.Wright said she thinks social media sites do play a larger role in the spread of conspiracies and therefore should do what they can to prevent it but she too worries about them just kicking people off.”What does this mean for the level of power and influence the social media platforms have on society as a whole and they might need to be reined in just a little bit,” Wright said.The big question is how exactly to do that.The discussion of regulations on big tech has been ongoing at the federal level. In Florida, the governor recently proposed a bill that would fine social media companies that kicked off elected officials or candidates.

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