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Politics in social media media: How much is Truth endangered?

What are we to make of this NEWSDAY report yesterday? –
 
“WASHINGTON — Less than a month into Michael Bloomberg’s self-funded presidential campaign, the billionaire’s campaign ads have blanketed the internet — appearing at the top of Instagram feeds, front and center on Facebook timelines, featured in Google search results and often played in the middle of YouTube videos.

“The ubiquity of Bloomberg’s online advertisements reflects record spending by the mogul that so far has topped $100 million in TV and internet advertising since he entered the race on Nov. 24 — including $7.5 million for Google and YouTube ads and $2.5 million in Facebook ads, according to data posted by the companies on Tuesday”.  Bloomberg launches $100M TV/Internet ad campaign    

Here’s the problem: Truth.

New York Times columnist Roger Cohen quoting British actor Sacha Baron Cohen the British actor on social media behemoths: “‘The truth is that these companies won’t fundamentally change because their entire business model relies on generating more engagement, and nothing generates more engagement than lies, fear and outrage.”

Columnist Cohen’s tongue-in-cheek sardonic comment: “Truth is so 20th century.”

And this from an earlier Times article:  “Facebook is incapable of vetting political ads effectively and consistently at the global scale. And political ads are essential to maintaining the company’s presence in countries [and revenues] around the world.”   “The Real Reason Facebook Won’t Fact Check Political Ads”

On the other hand, Twitter no longer posts political ads.

Another problem: Ubiquity.

From the NEWSDAY article: A longtime social media consultant: “In the social and digital world today, it’s almost impossible to oversaturate the market.”

Is it just quaint, then, that in the last few days, a dozen, and growing number, of main stream media have  endorsed the House of Representatives impeachment endeavor? (Recall that virtually all major dailies across America endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016.)

Also, is it marginal that in defense of truth in journalism, the Society of Professional Journalists this year decided to mount a summit meeting titled, “Quo Vadis Democracy in an age of Disinformation?”

We have to hope fervently that classic journalism standards will prevail in reporting and analysis of politics.

Democracy depends on it.