by Jack Zipay
330 million, that’s how many active monthly users are on Twitter, including over 145 million users daily for the social media giant, according to Oberlo.com.
More than ever, social media users want information, facts and truthful articles, about the 2020 election. But some users are met with targeted ads, lies, misinformation and hate online.
The election has sparked an intense debate over candidates President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden and their ideas, personal lives and policies. Campaigns have made their final pushes to put their opinions, facts and links on candidates online. The explosion of information on both sides of the political spectrum, can be overwhelming.
While Twitter is a popular way to get fast news and updates, some users have found misleading articles and ads, intimidating comments and fake accounts all over their profiles. Just in the month of October, Twitter and CEO Jack Dorsey have decided to ban political ads ahead of the 2020 election, in an effort to stop the spread of misinformation.
This comes as Facebook continues to defend running political ads while having free speech as their priority. But political content is not going away completely, as it is being shared by profiles on Twitter, both real and fake.
Aaron McAndrews of Omaha resident and US Army service member, Aaron McAndrews said this election persuaded him to delete his Twitter app and stay away from the platform.
“There was too much opinion on my Twitter page, which I was fine with, but it’s when people were harassing me because of my beliefs and experiences is when I had to make a change,” Mc Andrews said..
McAndrews said he noticed a divide of the mentality on social media.
“If you don’t agree with me, then you are wrong,” McAndrews said, “and that he was being judged personally as a human, thus resulting in him deleted the app all together.”.
McAndrews said he was also bombarded with spam articles, attack ads and fake news links on his profile. Not only did he receive campaign ads and promos, but the division between peers and family added to the negativity.
“I have had friends harassed online for just being service members and being judged for posting photos in their uniforms,” McAndrews said. “Some people who are Biden supporters think that we serve President Trump personally just because of our title, but we serve the country.”
McAndrews said it’s important for individuals to have their own opinions and beliefs, but it crosses the line when misinformation, negativity and oppression “take over” the platforms.
“My Twitter was filled with negative comments, fake bot accounts interacting with profiles and specific attack ads being displayed,” McAndrews said.
Joseph Diedrichsen, a University of Nebraska at Omaha cyber security major, said he has monitored the election online. He has also researched the use of data mining, fake accounts and HTP cookie collection to promote political ads and promotions.
“It is creepy that our information is stored and used, but it’s all totally legal and is benefiting the candidates, individuals supporting the candidates and the spread of misinformation,” Diedrichsen said. “It’s also not uncommon for people to create fake accounts to boost posts or candidate’s profiles to help them increase their following numbers, overall.”
Digital cookies and HTP cookies are described as small text files and pieces of data from your search history and online use to help promote specific targeted ads, promotions and websites. Some may not even know how much is being tracked and recorded, but with all the data from web browsers, social media is becoming a massive way for people to share their opinions.nd more.
Diedrichsen said he has had specific Biden ads, promotions and even Joe Biden’s profile tweets pop up on his timeline just from visiting articles on CNN and MSNBC. But it’s not just ads, individual profiles, videos and hashtags can also be collected and tracked with just a click and can be used to promote specific content.
“In the cookies overall definition, it is said that they help improve your web browsing experience, “ Diedrichsen said, “but political teams and individuals are taking advantage of the data mining and using it as a medium to target audiences with attack ads, fake news, negative articles and radical profiles in some cases.”
With all the ways social media is being used in 2020, it’s hard not to see political opinions, comments and ads while online. But companies like Twitter are starting to take note of the issues while others may be slow to respond until after the votes are tallied and the election Is over.
“You can clear your cookies in most cases, but a lot of services now require them in their terms and service agreements,” Diedrichsen said.
Added McAndrews: “I hope Twitter and other social media websites learn from this election and all that has come out of it, we can’t forget to be human and respect each other’s opinions and not lose our minds.”
