RESEARCH PAPER

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Madeline Ostrum

Independence High School

English 12 DE

Mr. Flake

22 December 2020
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Abstract

Different topics that contribute to the divide of political parties due to social media, are

discussed throughout the paper. I felt strongly about this topic because of the relevance in today's

world. Kids, teens, and adults are all on social media, with the power at their hands to post

whatever they desire without being held accountable for fact-checking. Rumors, fake news,

biased information, and the organization of political campaigns are the main reasons that further

the divide. To benefit the creator, people post content that will get the ball rolling, while it might

be the farthest accusation away from the truth. The interactions based off of just one post, can

lead to thousands of more, making it seem as if this rumor is true. So much of the information

relayed out there, puts emphasis on how their party of choice is better and the other party is

nonsense. People are brainwashed into believing if you support Republicans, you hate Democrats

and vice versa. It’s as if each party is out to get one another, verse better themselves or meet in

the middle. The ability to have such an open and free platform has helped create this divide

between political parties.

Introduction

Over the years, social media has evolved into something different. It has turned into

platforms for content creators and even individuals to share their beliefs. Social media’s public

access and ease of use, allows for anyone, including sites masquerading as news outlets, to post

anything without being accountable for fact-checking. Throughout the last decade, social media

platforms have started to compete less with each other and more for the attention of the audience.

The omnipresent use of social media has led to polarization within our society due to rampant

spread of fake news, which is creating a divisiveness in our culture especially as it relates to

things of a political nature. Social media outlets feed the public with biased information to appeal
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to their beliefs, principles and experiences. This benefits these outlets by growing their viewing

base linking people with similar ideologies together, but contributes to the divide between

different political parties. Misinformation campaigns skew reality and attach people to false

narratives that seem to play into their ideologies while at the same time fracturing our

democracy.

Fake News Spread

Fake news, or misinformation campaigns, are spread regularly, if not always, to

manipulate the public opinion on social media. To engage users with content, social media

platforms feed people with information that gets them to start interacting with the post. These

interactions might be positive or negative, but create vitriol on both the left and right, furthering

the divide. Satire is often used in misinformation campaigns to create a connection with an

individual to the cause, trying to make it relatable or ironic. Fake news is causing a separation

between the people and political candidates, due to the rumors and misconceptions that are easily

spread through social media outlets. Julia Rubio (2020) conducted a survey determining people's

trustworthiness on social media regarding politics (p. 2). Throughout the survey, there is false

information showing positive statistics referring to the candidate they represent. This tests how

much voters trust anonymous sources and how trustworthy they are of themselves based on fake

news that appeals to their personal narrative. As a result, users who were exposed to uncivil

partisan messages in social media, were the ones who showed decline in political trust.

Rumors are the origin story of fake news. Anyone or anything can create a story with a

dramatic effect to engage users to interconnect with the post. Word travels lightning fast on

social media, and something that surprises the public enough to make the post viral will get

people to believe these rumors and add on to these misinformation campaigns by posting their
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own thoughts and reactions. Posts that get a lot of shares, comments, and likes, get spread more

quickly, amplifying the reach of these narratives. In September of 2020, Noel King interviewed

Shannon Bond regarding the rumor about a left-wing activist group, Antifa, starting Oregon

Wildfires. (p. 1). The post that held the rumor quickly got out of control and spread as quickly as

the Oregon wildfires. At first, the FBI took down many posts, but overtime it spread so

pervasively that everyone knew about the rumor and many perceived it to be true. This shows the

significance of one single post and how it can destroy an entire community with false

accusations, because the person behind the rumor felt hatred towards the group and wanted to

corrupt their public image.

Biased Information

Social media platforms thrive off of user interactions and the ability to allocate content

that appeals to the user. Cookies remember users' browsing activity which allows them to see

your interests and posts you interact with. Social media platforms use this as their advantage by

sending out advertisements that correlate with past user activity. Cookies help biased information

spread the internet faster, due to cookies' advantage of knowing things that appeal to every user's

eye.

News outlets, social media platforms, political activists etc. all have some form of biased

information, otherwise known as echo chambers. For example, two of the largest news outlets in

the world, CNN and Fox News are biased outlets where CNN talks highly of the Democrats

liberal agenda and rails on the Republican’s conservative agendas, while Fox does the exact

opposite and speaks highly of the Republicans while chastising the Democrats. Biased

information is a disproportionate weight in favor towards a certain thing, while neglecting the

other end of the spectrum. If the source is biased towards the information the viewers prefer and
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appeals to their agenda, they will continue to watch, while on the contrary people don’t tend to

interact with outlets against their beliefs. Maria Petrova (2020) reasons the political effects on the

internet and social media, and writes “We review evidence on the role of social media in the

dissemination of fake news, and we summarize results about the strategies employed by

autocratic regimes to censor the Internet and to use social media for surveillance and

propaganda.” (p. 1). Social media has a strong influence on political outcomes, by using

manipulation and content that appeals to certain viewers' eyes, such as liberal and conservative

posts. Posts are filled with manipulation to win over the corresponding side. Social media is

another form of surveillance and propaganda for politicians.

A version of cookies called political cookies are used throughout elections to increase

voter turnout and persuade voters to favor a political party or candidate. Campaigns track users

activity on social media to look through users activity and take statistics to try to uncover the

election results. Jessica Leber points out campaigns run statistics and analyze voters with

“political cookies” (p. 1). Cookies tailor users ads into things that will interest them so they show

activity. Sometimes they use another method by putting advertisements opposite of your beliefs

so people show a negative reaction with their activity. For marketing purposes, knowing the user

interface allows a target market to be created. Luis Tilleria (2020) goes over social media

marketing tactics of campaigns during elections (p. 1). Platforms on social media allow

candidates to connect with their audience and show their driven campaigns. Social media

platforms allow a campaign to have a new model and the younger generation to be more

invested, even though they aren’t eligible to vote.

Organization of Political Protests

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Social media platforms are where many share their beliefs and views, especially when it comes

to politics. By looking at certain users' pages, you can tell very quickly what they stand for and

what they believe in. This allows for people who have similar beliefs and narratives to

communicate and organize. Ayesha Karamat (2016) covers the role of social media when it

comes to political activism (p. 1). Discussions are made about the impact of social media on the

polarization of politics and how its evolving political views. For many, social media is a form of

empowerment to share their public perceptions and views. Social media is increasing

engagement in politics by the younger generation, which creates more political activism.

Within just the past 24 hours, President Trump’s supporters rampaged the Capitol due to

their disbelief and frustration with him losing the 2020 election. Michael Levenson from the

Washington Post, reports the assault at the Capitol from President Trump’s supporters (p. 1).

Angry and violent people rioted the Capitol to show their support for Donald Trump and hatred

for Joe Biden. Trump believes the 2020 election was rigged and that he should be the winner. He

has made this very clear to his followers, so he riled them up and they fought for him by

storming the Capitol. This is a form of domestic terrorism incited by a sitting President using

social media outlets to get his misinformed message to his followers. This outburst has damaged

our country's integrity and put a stain on our democracy. Through his use of social media

President Trump was able to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power that has occurred in our

Country for over 200 years. After this riot occurred, the following day Trump released a speech

conceding Joe Biden. Kory Crompton (2021) discussed Twitter's reactions after the speech was

said (p. 1). In his speech he didn’t admit to encouraging violence, he condemned the violent

supporters who attacked the Capitol. He conceded President-elect Joe Biden and finally admitted

his loss in the 2020 election, but told his supporters “our journey is just beginning”. Many people
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were infuriated on how he didn’t own up to egging on the violence, so Twitter exploded with

nasty Tweets directed towards President Donald Trump. With social media at hand, this allowed

for an even larger backlash.

Throughout his term President Trump has used Twitter and Facebook to connect with his

followers on an hourly basis, where he spews his beliefs and violates civic integrity as President.

This article written by Xan Ni (2020), discusses how politicians exclaim their political ideologies

through social media (p. 1). This article understands and dives deeper into politicians and how

they express their political ideology on social media. The article states, “In the era of social

media, politics has become saturated with imagery, a potent and emotionally salient form of

political rhetoric which has been used by politicians and political organizations to influence

public sentiment and voting behavior for well over a century.” Politicians use techniques on

social media to gain either a liberal or conservative audience. James Clayton (2020)

acknowledges this with the suspension of President Trump’s Twitter and Facebook account due

to his violation of their civic integrity policies, inciting the rampage at the Capitol (p. 1). This

illustrates that large social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook recognize the power they

have to influence the masses. Leading up to the suspension of his account over the last month,

content about his references to and repeated claims of election fraud have been tagged as

misleading and inaccurate. Even still just this information being out there on these platforms,

regardless of it being identified as misinformation or fake news, didn’t stop his supporters from

organizing, gathering, rioting, and storming the Capitol all buoyed by the belief of factually

inaccurate social media content.

Conclusion
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Social Media is furthering the divide between political parties with fake news, biased

information, and their far reaching ability to organize masses and create conflict with every

situation this world faces. The omnipresent use of social media has led to polarization within our

society. Social media outlets feed the public with biased information to appeal to their beliefs and

personal narratives. This benefits these outlets by growing their platform of viewers with similar

beliefs, but contributes to the divide in our country and between different political platforms.

Everyday it appears that social media is furthering this divide.

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Annotated Bibliography

Aruguete, N. (2020, November 11). Trustful Voters, Trustworthy Politicians: A Survey

Experiment on the Influence of Social Media in Politics. Retrieved December 10,
2020, from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ernesto_Calvo/publication/345738264_Trustf
ul_Voters_Trustworthy_Politicians_A_Survey_Experiment_on_the_Influence_of_S
ocial_Media_in_Politics/links/5fac278f45851507810c080b/Trustful-Voters-Trustw
orthy-Politicians-A-Survey-Experiment-on-the-Influence-of-Social-Media-in-Politi
cs.pdf

A trust game is created into a survey for the people of Mexico and Brazil to determine the
trustworthiness of social media on politics. Throughout the survey, there is false
information placed saying the candidate they prefer will win. This tests how much
voters trust others and how trustworthy they are in themselves based on fake news
that appeals to their liking. As a result, users who were exposed to uncivil partisan
messages in social media, were the ones who showed decline in political trust. This
was ideal for building background knowledge.

Karamat, A. (2016). Emerging Role of Social Media in Political Activism: Perceptions and
Practices. Retrieved December 10, 2020, from
http://journals.pu.edu.pk/journals/index.php/IJSAS/article/view/3053

Discusses the impact of social media on the polarization of politics and how its evolving
political views. For many, social media is a form of empowerment to share their
public perceptions and views. Social media is bringing in the youth to be more
engaged with politics, which creates more political activism. This was ideal
building background knowledge.

Tilleria, L. (2020, September). SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN POLITICS. Retrieved

December 10, 2020, from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Luis_Felipe_Tilleria_Limongi/publication/344
779020_SOCIAL_MEDIA_MARKETING_IN_POLITICS_Political_behaviour_T
he_case_of_Ecuadoreans_living_in_Europe/links/5f8f76e7a6fdccfd7b71dbfd/SOCI
AL-MEDIA-MARKETING-IN-POLITICS-Political-behaviour-The-case-of-Ecuad
oreans-living-in-Europe.pdf

This article discusses the behind the scenes of social media marketing. Platforms on social
media allow candidates to connect with their audience and show their driven
campaigns. Social media platforms allow a campaign to have a new model and the
younger generation to be more invested, even though they aren’t applicable to vote.
This was ideal building background knowledge to be able to write my paper
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Xi, N., Ma, D., Liou, M., Steinert-Threlkeld, Z., Anastasopoulos, J., & Joo, J. (2020).
Understanding the Political Ideology of Legislators from Social Media Images.
Retrieved December 10, 2020, from
https://ojs.aaai.org//index.php/ICWSM/article/view/7338

This article understands and dives deeper into politicians and how they express their
political ideology on social media. The article states, “In the era of social media,
politics has become saturated with imagery, a potent and emotionally salient form
of political rhetoric which has been used by politicians and political organizations
to influence public sentiment and voting behavior for well over a century.”
Politicians use techniques to gain either a liberal or conservative audience.

Petrova, M. (2020, May 26th). Political Effects of the Internet and Social Media. Retrieved
December 10, 2020, from
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-economics-081919-05023
9

Social media has a strong influence on political outcomes, by using manipulation and
content that appeals to certain viewers' eyes, such as liberal and conservative posts.
Posts are filled with manipulation to win over the corresponding side. Social media
is another form of surveillance and propaganda for politicians. A line she stated
said, “ We review evidence on the role of social media in the dissemination of fake
news, and we summarize results about the strategies employed by autocratic
regimes to censor the Internet and to use social media for surveillance and
propaganda.” This helped prove my point on manipulation all throughout social
media.

King, N. (2020, September 22nd). What can social media do to slow down the spread of
information? Retrieved January 6, 2021 from
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/22/915555286/what-can-social-media-do-to-slowdow
n-the-spread-of-misinformation

The post that held the rumor quickly got out of control and spread as quickly as the Oregon
wildfires. At first, the FBI took down many posts, but overtime it spread so pervasively
that everyone knew about the rumor and many perceived it to be true. This shows the
significance of one single post and how it can destroy an entire community with false
accusations, because the person behind the rumor felt hatred towards the group and
wanted to corrupt their public image. This was ideal at building background knowledge.

Leber, J. (2012, June 27th). Campaigns to track voters with “Political Cookies”. Retrieved
January 6, 2021 from
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https://www.technologyreview.com/2012/06/27/185169/campaigns-to-track-voters-with-
political-cookies/

Cookies taylor users ads into things that will interest them so they show activity. Sometimes they
use another method by putting advertisements opposite of your beliefs so people show a
negative reaction with their activity. For marketing purposes knowing the user interface
allows a target market to be created. This was ideal at building background knowledge.

Levenson, M. (2021, January 7th). Today’s Rampage at the Capitol, as it happened. Retrieved
January 7th, 2021 from
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/06/us/washington-dc-protests

Angry and violent people rioted the Capitol to show their support for Donald Trump and hatred
for Joe Biden. Trump believes the 2020 election was rigged and that he should be the
winner. He has made this very clear to his followers, so he riled them up and they fought
for him by storming the Capitol. This is a form of domestic terrorism incited by a sitting
President using social media outlets to get his misinformed message to his followers. This
outburst has damaged our country's integrity and put a stain on our democracy. Through
his use of social media President Trump was able to disrupt the peaceful transfer of
power that has occurred in our Country for over 200 years. This was ideal for building
background knowledge.

Clayton, J. (2021, January 6th). Trump allowed back onto Twitter, Retrieved January 6th, 2021
from https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55569604

This illustrates that large social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook recognize the power
they have to influence the masses. Leading up to the suspension of his account over the
last month, content about his references to and repeated claims of election fraud have
been tagged as misleading and inaccurate. Even still just this information being out there
on these platforms, regardless of it being identified as misinformation or fake news,
didn’t stop his supporters from organizing, gathering, rioting, and storming the Capitol all
buoyed by the belief of factually inaccurate social media content. This was ideal for
building background knowledge.

Crompton, K, (2021, January 7th). Twitter erupts over Donald Trump’s video concession speech.
https://madison.com/news/national/twitter-erupts-over-donald-trumps-video-concession-s
peech/article_15585386-0a96-5e21-8a16-a26d787eaadc.html

In his speech he didn’t admit to encouraging violence, he condemned the violet supporters who
attacked the Capitol. He conceded President-elect Joe Biden and finally admitted his loss
in the 2020 election, but told his supporters “our journey is just beginning”. Many people
were infuriated on how he didn’t own up to egging on the violence, so Twitter exploded
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with nasty Tweets directed towards President Donald Trump. This was ideal for
background knowledge.