Truth and nothing but the truth
the risks seem too great. Even in contexts where there is no censorship, analysts are now noting the pernicious effects on our societies of our increased ability to personalize our media consumption, deliberately reducing the range of information and viewpoints we want to encounter.
Social media have facilitated the rallying of people for a cause, within and across national boundaries, and stimulating mass movements. The across countries and languages and sectors, galvanizing millions of women and men to speak out about their experiences of sexual harassment.
Other progressive advocacy campaigns have been more deliberate and organized – such as the “World We Want” social media campaign organized by the UN as part of the negotiations on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.
Social media can mobilize thousands of people online, and facilitate organized protest, turning a spontaneous gathering rapidly into a large, organized movement. Social networks played a role in the rapid disintegration of regimes in Tunisia and Egypt and statistics show that during the Arab Spring, the number of users of social networks, especially Facebook, rose dramatically, particularly in those countries where political uprisings took place. As one protester mentioned, “we use Facebook to schedule the protests, Twitter to coordinate and YouTube to tell the world.”
Social media and formal politics
Digital and social media are also transforming the conduct of formal politics. They allow politicians to reach millions of people at no cost; and allow political debates to happen in a virtual space without the threat of personal confrontation.
The use of social media, including Twitter, to deliver political messages and comment on domestic as well as global events in real time and without the benefit of editorial control, fact correction or balanced advice has changed the role and nature of political discourse.
New software applications (bots) enable highly repetitive operations (e.g. retweeting the messages of politi - ers) to create an illusion of popularity
While some guidelines for parliamentarians have now been issued by the Inter ParliamentaryUnion (IPU), much more needs to be considered in terms of guidance and appropriate behavior in the political sphere.
In summary, the transformations in people’s access to media, information and communication will continue to bring positive and negative consequences for governance. While the speed of information exchange and new ways of communicating can bring democratic, can also lead to or worsen political
It is certainly not evident that in many contexts these changes have led to a more informed society, able to access trustworthy information, balanced views and a plurality of voices and debate.
Free, independent and plural media, including social media remain essential for an open and informed society, but whether a more connected world is also becoming a more democratic world remains one of the governance challenges we urgently need to confront.