Social media: The good, the bad and the ugly

On 7 January, just before Trump took office for his second term, Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would be getting rid of independent fact-checkers to cover Facebook and Instagram because they have become too “politically biased” and because content was being taken down “which should not have been”.

Without real moderation, the result is a platform which has become more and more like the Wild West. When we read something now we wonder: Is it true? Is it false? Is that image or video an AI-generated hoax, or is it genuine? Who knows? It is anyone’s guess.

We all saw that “video” of Zelensky punching Donald Trump in the mouth during that infamous meeting in the Oval Office in front of the press.  Of course it was deepfake, but the implications of such a video going viral (which it did) are very serious and could have alarming repercussions.

Similarly there are recordings of famous people purportedly saying things they never did, through the use of AI voice technology. AI voice takes samples of a person's speech (usually voice recordings) to create a voice that sounds like them. Nowadays, the accuracy of a cloned voice can be impressive.

For those who are gullible enough to believe everything they see on social media, this practice can be bewildering at best, but in the wrong hands this mis-use of technology can be very dangerous.

This is just one example of how social media can be used for sinister purposes. On a more personal level, there are those who have used it to stalk, harass and intimidate others in a stream of psychological bullying and sometimes, in extreme cases, this is a precursor to physical violence. Those with bad intent have used it to spy and glean information about someone, including their relationship status, their comings and goings, and even where their children go to school.

Of course this is all possible because there are those who misguidedly, but willingly, publish too much information about themselves online despite constant warnings against this practice. Information is power and yet so many naively think that because they have settings on “friends only”, or because they are sharing intimate details about their lives in a private group, that it cannot be shared. News flash: nothing you post online is private because screen shots can always be taken and saved.

But then there is the other side of the coin.

This amazing and limitless tool called FB has changed our lives and the way we interact. People share their joys, proud moments and triumphs. From graduations to buying their first property to marriage to the birth of their babies. It is a great way to stay connected during our rat race busy lives, a convenient way to look up old friends and let’s face it, a gratifying way of receiving countless birthday messages on one’s birthday. When people click like or leave a comment on what we post it gives us a hit of serotonin, one of the natural body chemicals that controls your mood.

Studies have shown that the sense of validation we receive when people approve what we post is so powerful that it can become addictive. Influencers have now made a living out of the quest for likes and to increase their number of followers, but even here the tool in the wrong hands can be worrying.

The film Apple Cider Vinegar gives a chilling account of how wellness influencer Belle Gibson, pretended to be suffering from cancer and claimed to be keeping the disease under control using natural remedies. Not only did she dupe unwitting people into donating to her favourite charities (which were never passed on), but more shockingly, real cancer sufferers started refusing conventional treatment, and insisted on being cured naturally like her. She gave them false hope. The influencer got so used to pretending she had cancer, using Instagram and TikTok, she forgot it was a lie, which is a sign of a mental health issue known as Münchausen’s Syndrome or, as it is also known, factitious disorder.

In 2015, the Guardian came out with an article about her with a very apt title,  Münchausen by internet: the sickness bloggers who fake it online. Everyone had taken what Belle Gibson said at face value (after all, why would someone lie about cancer?), very few had bothered to fact-check her and it took years before she was found out, by which time she had done a lot of damage.

When it comes to social media what is highly noticeable and significant is that, in Malta especially, we have gone from a society which used to be wary, secretive and even superstitious about illness to openly talking about it. On the one hand, it has helped to create awareness for everyone to get regular check-ups, but it can be taken to the extreme, when one’s feed seems to be filled with nothing but bad news. On a more morbid note, people even post from hospital beds when relatives are terminally ill, and understandably, the sympathy pours in. This can be a misleading display of empathy however – it is so incredibly easy to swiftly type “in my prayers” and then get on with your day, but it takes a real friend to actually do something more personal like make a phone call or pay a visit or offer practical help.

Another example of how social media has shaped society is what happens when people die. Gone are the days when you hear about someone’s passing through word of mouth, because the deaths of relatives are now often announced via social media. Even some newsrooms use FB as their source for stories, from photos to personal (very personal) tributes posted by relatives about the deceased. (Although, to be frank, I fail to see how telling a loved one how much they will be missed and extolling their virtues in a eulogy can be construed as “news”).

But as much as social media has its pitfalls it can be used to do so much good as well.  A recent story of a British man, suffering from dementia, who went missing from his Sliema hotel room, illustrated the power of people sharing information on FB. The news went viral and the Canine Search & Rescue Team – Order of Malta helped the Police in their search for the missing man, who was found in Valletta, safe and sound.

Long-lost relatives have re-connected, people reminisce about the past through nostalgia FB groups, and when there is a spate of burglaries in specific areas such as is happening now, it is easier for residents to join forces, share crucial tips and create a community where people look out for each other.

We rely on social media so much that it is sometimes difficult to remember what life was like without it. But it wasn’t that long ago really that we lined up on Sunday to buy the papers to read the latest news, or printed our photos and displayed them in photo albums to share only with close friends and family. Now practically every photo we take is shared to Facebook (and hundreds of friends), becoming a journal of sorts, chronicling our lives.

And our source for news? These days it is invariably obtained online, in easy to digest snippets, to cater for short attention spans. But that also means that people imagine that they are well-informed when they have only read what the algorithms have given them, according to their bias.

I don’t want to end on a negative note because in reality, I love social media and its varied uses. From communication to marketing to learning and the promotion of new ideas and concepts, there is nothing like it. Like everything else in life, it is best used in moderation. As long as it does not replace real human interaction and face to face contact, we will be fine.