Facebook’s Decision to Uphold the Ban on Donald Trump and its Consequence in Social Media Censorship Regulations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Naughton
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Media Censorship

The Voice of Social Media, 1997-2018

2021 ◽  
pp. 1461-1468
Author(s):  
Bruce Lawrence Cook
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Internet Communication ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Us Presidential Election ◽  
Media Censorship ◽  
The Voice

Until 2006, news and internet communication came from trusted sources which basically served as gatekeepers. In those times it was difficult for an individual to publish information. However, from 1997 to 2006, the advent of small writer websites permitted postings by lesser-known individuals. This article traces the historical shift from top-down communication to the early stages of Internet participation for individuals. While these developments would seem to have eliminated perceived problems with journalistic advocacy, the opposite may have occurred. Facebook is accused of contaminating a US presidential election and US President Donald Trump has been using Twitter to broadcast his own version of the news. As a result, the discussion has shifted to consideration of Social Media censorship and questions of freedom of expression.

Epilogue

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Goodin ◽  
Kai Spiekermann
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
European Union ◽  
Majority Rule ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Epistemic Democracy ◽  
The Core ◽  
Echo Chambers ◽  
Filter Bubbles

This chapter reflects on the election of Donald Trump and the vote of the British electorate in favour of ‘Brexit’ from the European Union. While we refrain from judging the outcomes of these votes, we do discuss concerns pertaining to the lack of truthfulness in both campaigns. After rehearsing the lies on which the Trump and Brexit campaigns were based, we consider different explanations as to why these campaigns were nevertheless successful, and where this leaves the argument for epistemic democracy. Particularly worrisome are tendencies towards ‘epistemic insouciance’, ‘epistemic malevolence’, and ‘epistemic agnosticism’. We also consider the problematic influence of social media in terms of echo chambers and filter bubbles. The core argument in favour of epistemic democracy is that the pooling of votes by majority rule has epistemically beneficial properties, assuming certain conditions. If these assumptions are not met, or are systematically corrupted, then epistemic democracy is under threat.

scholarly journals Cervantes, the Journey, and What it Tells Us About Becoming a Writer

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 391-394
Author(s):  
Lania Knight
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Henry James ◽  
Confirmation Bias ◽  
Helene Cixous ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Fiction Writing ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Fiction Writers

Abstract The article traces the notion of empathy in fiction writing and how Cervantes’s treatment of characters in Don Quixote initiated a tradition which is ongoing in literature even today. The path of the writer is examined as a means for understanding how a writer must develop empathy for others, beginning with quotes from writers Helene Cixous and Henry James. Next, within the current political context of global upheaval and shift following on from the election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S.A. as well as the vote for Brexit in the U.K., the article argues for the relevance of Cervantes’s novel, not as a dated work of fiction, but as a text relevant both in form and in content for the modern political climate. Finally, the connection is made between fiction writers’ ability to feel empathy for others and create characters which readers will feel empathy for. The article follows on to proclaim the revolutionary and timely role of the fiction writer to help save us from ourselves in a tumultuous political landscape made unpredictable by social media-generated confirmation bias and insularity.

Governing Fake News: The Regulation of Social Media and the Right to Freedom of Expression in the Era of Emergency

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Donato VESE
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Right ◽  
Media Censorship

Governments around the world are strictly regulating information on social media in the interests of addressing fake news. There is, however, a risk that the uncontrolled spread of information could increase the adverse effects of the COVID-19 health emergency through the influence of false and misleading news. Yet governments may well use health emergency regulation as a pretext for implementing draconian restrictions on the right to freedom of expression, as well as increasing social media censorship (ie chilling effects). This article seeks to challenge the stringent legislative and administrative measures governments have recently put in place in order to analyse their negative implications for the right to freedom of expression and to suggest different regulatory approaches in the context of public law. These controversial government policies are discussed in order to clarify why freedom of expression cannot be allowed to be jeopardised in the process of trying to manage fake news. Firstly, an analysis of the legal definition of fake news in academia is presented in order to establish the essential characteristics of the phenomenon (Section II). Secondly, the legislative and administrative measures implemented by governments at both international (Section III) and European Union (EU) levels (Section IV) are assessed, showing how they may undermine a core human right by curtailing freedom of expression. Then, starting from the premise of social media as a “watchdog” of democracy and moving on to the contention that fake news is a phenomenon of “mature” democracy, the article argues that public law already protects freedom of expression and ensures its effectiveness at the international and EU levels through some fundamental rules (Section V). There follows a discussion of the key regulatory approaches, and, as alternatives to government intervention, self-regulation and especially empowering users are proposed as strategies to effectively manage fake news by mitigating the risks of undue interference by regulators in the right to freedom of expression (Section VI). The article concludes by offering some remarks on the proposed solution and in particular by recommending the implementation of reliability ratings on social media platforms (Section VII).

scholarly journals Fan geographies and engagement between geopolitics of Brexit, Donald Trump, and Doctor Who on social media

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Carilyn Gunderman
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Doctor Who ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Us ◽  
Use Of Social Media

The 2016 Brexit decision and Donald Trump's election to the US presidency that same year led to a wide variety of social media activity, ranging from visceral anger to unadulterated jubilation. How members of particular fandoms choose to express their emotions regarding a geopolitical event can be filtered through the lens of their fannish enthusiasm. Analysis of Doctor Who-influenced geopolitical engagement on Facebook that uses case studies of both Brexit and Donald Trump's election and 2017 inauguration shows that fans used Doctor Who to cope with emotionally taxing geopolitical events and expressed their anguish through the lens of selected Doctor Who plotlines. This use of social media permits fans to shape a new geopolitical landscape within which they can grapple with their political surroundings as influenced by their fandom.

scholarly journals NORMCORE PLUTOCRATS in GOLD ELEVATORS

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Littler
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Physical Context ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Us

This article analyzes two notorious photos of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage—one on their own, and one alongside Arron Banks, Gerry Gunster, Andy Wigmore, and Raheem Kassam—standing in a gold-plated elevator after Trump had won the US election. The article provides a cultural and political analysis of the plutocrats who are playing at being ordinary “winners,” or what it calls normcore plutocrats. Analyzing the symbolic and material contexts of these two images, it considers the physical context of the lift within Trump Tower; the tangled web of relationships uniting the men in the lift; and the first photograph’s later life as a social media meme. Asking how a depiction of glittering luxury can be presented as populist revolt, it discusses how elites draw on discourses of meritocracy, of “traveling up the social ladder,” to validate their actions. That Trump and friends are not on a ladder but in an express lift symbolizes the attempted velocity of this phase of corporate meritocracy. In the process the analysis provides a multilayered contribution toward understanding how these normcore plutocrats in gold elevators have achieved and extended their power.

scholarly journals Don’t Republicans Tweet Too? Using Twitter to Assess the Consequences of Political Endorsements by Celebrities

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-160
Author(s):  
Jan Zilinsky ◽  
Cristian Vaccari ◽  
Jonathan Nagler ◽  
Joshua A. Tucker
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Presidential Candidate ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Presidential Candidates ◽  
Political Preferences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Decision To Stay ◽  
Presidential Election Campaign

Michael Jordan supposedly justified his decision to stay out of politics by noting that Republicans buy sneakers too. In the social media era, the name of the game for celebrities is engagement with fans. So why then do celebrities risk talking about politics on social media, which is likely to antagonize a portion of their fan base? With this question in mind, we analyze approximately 220,000 tweets from 83 celebrities who chose to endorse a presidential candidate in the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign to assess whether there is a cost—defined in terms of engagement on Twitter—for celebrities who discuss presidential candidates. We also examine whether celebrities behave similarly to other campaign surrogates in being more likely to take on the “attack dog” role by going negative more often than going positive. More specifically, we document how often celebrities of distinct political preferences tweet about Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton, and we show that followers of opinionated celebrities do not withhold engagement when entertainers become politically mobilized and do indeed often go negative. Interestingly, in some cases political content from celebrities actually turns out to be more popular than typical lifestyle tweets.

scholarly journals Simulacra in the Age of Social Media: Baudrillard as the Prophet of Fake News

2020 ◽  
pp. 019685992097715
Author(s):  
James Morris
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
General Trend ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Online Technology ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
Mass Reproduction

“Fake News” has been a frequent topic in the last couple of years. The phenomenon has particularly been cited with regards to the election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States. The creation of “post truth” reports that are disseminated via the Web and social media has been treated as something new, a product of the digital age, and a reason to be concerned about the effects of online technology. However, this paper argues that fake news should be considered as part of a continuum with forms of media that went before in the 20th Century, and the general trend of postmodernity detailed by Baudrillard. The simulation of communications media and mass reproduction was already evident and has merely progressed in the digital age rather than the latter providing a wholly new context. The paper concludes by asking whether the political havoc caused by fake news has an antidote, when it appears to be a by-product of media simulacra’s inherent lack of connection to the real. In a communications landscape where the misrepresentations of the so-called “Mainstream Media” are decried using even more questionable “memes” on social media, is there any possibility for truth?

Why Did Khizr Khan’s Speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention Go Viral? Personifying Collective Values in an Epideictic Speech

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-623
Author(s):  
Kathleen E. Kendall
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Visual Presentation ◽  
Flash Point ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
American Muslim ◽  
National Convention

On July 28, 2016, Mr. Khizr Khan, an American Muslim immigrant, gave a short speech at the Democratic National Convention. Khan’s speech eulogized his soldier son, attacked the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, and endorsed the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. The speech went “viral” within minutes, circulating rapidly on the Internet, evoking an immediate response on social media. Barely 2 days later, Trump attacked the Khan speech, the Khans responded, and the event dominated the news for days. The event and its aftermath “emerged as an unexpected and potentially pivotal flash point in the general election” (Burns, Haberman, & Parket, 2016). Why did this speech have such an effect? Using principles from Aristotle’s concept of the epideictic speech, this study examines (1) the role of surprise in the structure and visual presentation of Khan’s speech, as well as (2) the way in which Khan expressed personal and collective anger. Trump’s postconvention responses magnified the speech effect through heavy media coverage.

scholarly journals Access to Government Officials in the Age of Social Media

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-58
Author(s):  
Katie Blevins ◽  
Kearston L. Wesner
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Concomitant Increase ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Twitter Account ◽  
Speech Clause

As social media platforms have become more pervasive, there has been a concomitant increase in the number of government officials using their personal social media accounts to perform official government duties. Most notably, President Donald Trump continues to use his personal Twitter account, established in 2009, prior to his presidency, to conduct a variety of official tasks. While the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause traditionally protects an individual’s right to engage in self-expression, the Supreme Court has not unequivocally recognized an affirmative right to know as an extension of the First Amendment. Recent court decisions suggest this may change. This study addresses the contours of public access to government officials on social media. Specifically, it considers the circumstances in which government officials are likely to be held to a standard of accountability and the case for treating public officials’ social media accounts as public forums, including how factors relating to account ownership and content impact that analysis.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document