A black and white diagram showing the various ways in which society is connected through communication. PHOTO COURTESY OF PxHere
Mark Linker
Opinion Editor
Over the past decade, the way modern society communicates has evolved rapidly. Social Media has made it possible to cultivate relationships by the thousands with like-minded people from across the globe regardless of geographical restrictions.
On the timeline of communications technology, this is especially revolutionary and recent. This tool has been a net good in many aspects. Social media allows certain individuals who would be more prone to social isolation and introversion to have a space to form relationships without face-to-face social interaction. This open-channel communication has also certainly been helpful for the proliferation of ideas in advancing technology, science, and politics.
While there are endless possibilities for how being able to share information with millions in seconds has positive implications, the possibility of catastrophe may be greater.
With the acquisition of Twitter (X), Elon Musk made a promise to up-end the platform, implementing a strict “free speech” policy that allows users to express their opinions freely barring illegal behavior. Although Musk himself has already banned and unbanned certain accounts rather arbitrarily, the commitment still stands. Musk seems to be implementing a strictly free-speech attitude due to his view that Twitter (X) stands as the “public town square” of social networking and that free speech is the only method that allows for maximum trust and transparency.
In principle, this is true. This same standard is applied in our own government as a protective measure for the individual against the power of the federal government. Given that Twitter (X) has enough social power to influence millions, this seems like a reasonable assessment to make. However, the ideas from which Musk is pulling were written and created under a different set of circumstances and in a different era of communicative technology. In many ways, the media, and to a certain extent, the individual (through Twitter) has more power than the government to influence the population.
We can clearly see the potential power a single individual or organization can attain by leveraging the algorithm and touching upon a topic that is popular with that public through the rise of a figure such as Andrew Tate. Tate, who is a former world champion kickboxer, went from relative obscurity to being a hero of many young men today by harnessing the algorithm of TikTok and getting various accounts to post videos saying explicitly controversial and provoking material. Tate has since amassed a following of over 7.5 million followers on Twitter (X), where he mainly chooses to share his content. His platform is a prime example of how to manipulate a wide swath of a certain demographic (young men) by appealing to certain sentiments of hopelessness to fuel anger and aggression.
We have yet to see what the future holds for the movement that Tate specifically is building, yet what concerns me is the ability of someone who is calculated and intelligent to amass a following of tens of millions across the globe. The elimination of geographical boundaries makes it fisable for individuals to brainwash an entire swath of multiple countries given they’re sufficiently charismatic and have a vision.
Taken to its logical conclusion, it is foreseeable for a singular individual or organization to undermine an entire country by rallying citizens through the networks in which we communicate. It’s hard to foresee where this technology will lead us. Let’s just hope it’s in the direction of innovation and prosperity and not dysfunction and chaos.
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