Have you ever spoken to Donald Trump? Have you ever met him?
Statistically speaking, the vast majority of American voters have never seen or met the candidates they will be voting for this fall, and the only way we know about them is through the media and advertising.
This leaves a lot of room for third parties to interfere with the information we have about these candidates, and we do have a formidable enemy that is rigging our elections.
I'm not just talking about the controversial app TikTok, which has very close ties to the Chinese Communist Party, but also about the American social media companies that politicians allow to do this.
Let's start with TikTok. Over 170 million Americans use this (including the two presidential candidates). Clear Evidence China has used TikTok to spread disinformation, including anti-American propaganda.
Osama bin Laden's “Letter to America” Viral On TikTok, shortly after the Hamas massacre of Jews on October 7th, day What happens after President Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on this issue?
TikTok is the largest vehicle for disinformation in the United States, responsible for the radicalization of two generations of Americans. This is extremely dangerous. And dozens of members of Congress and two presidential candidates (who previously advocated for banning TikTok) are now dancing on TikTok for everyone to see.
In fact, it is “Politically insane” Democrats should not ban TikTok because they need to reach young voters. Spreading misinformation It's going to inform hundreds of thousands of American voters about the 2020 election. Do you think that won't magically happen in 2024?
Perhaps it's common sense that platforms controlled by our biggest global competitors could be used against us, but what's even more insidious is that America's social media giants are allowing similar interference from foreign adversaries.
In the name of profit, Apple has allowed countless apps that are nothing more than tools owned and created by Russia, China, and Iran to infiltrate the American public. For example: Face App (the social media app that makes you age) has been downloaded by Americans more than 80 million times, and its terms of use state that a Russian-owned company with ties to Vladimir Putin's regime can use uploaded images “in perpetuity.” In other words, in this election disinformation cycle, you can expect to see at least millions of Twitter bots using the faces and names of real Americans harassing you.
Gay dating app Grindr was sold to a Chinese tech company in 2018. The US is now forcing the sale of the app, citing national security risks. Users of the app even enter their location and HIV status, all of which may now be in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, making it ideal for blackmailing US civilian and military leaders.
The New York Times reported that Facebook granted access to more than 150 companies, a fact that Zuckerberg had not previously disclosed, including allowing Microsoft search engine Bing to access data without users' consent, Spotify and Netflix read your private messages.
Topping the list is Yandex, which is essentially the Russian version of Google's search engine. It's scary that very private information (of millions of Americans) is being sent directly to the Kremlin. But what scares me even more is that Facebook has defended this activity, “There is no evidence of partner abuse..”
Really?
Facebook claims that it will ban developers if it finds misuse, but it's hard to believe that Facebook even knows if developers are doing something wrong, much less that it intends to do anything about it.
According to Statistics PortalFacebook has over 200 million American users. Instagram has over 100 million American users, and Twitter has about 70 million. While there is a significant overlap among these users, it is safe to say that statistically, over 60% of the U.S. population is likely exposed to foreign propaganda or influence.
These are just a few examples of the new tech wars being brought before our eyes under the guise of capitalism and enjoyable social media experiences — and this doesn't even take into account Facebook's own clear political leanings.
People have noticed that the company's suspension and deletion rules are applied inconsistently between liberal and conservative accounts. It seems to be proved While the content Facebook censors has no political intent, Facebook Refuse to be released There's no data to answer that question, which means any studies you see are based on the wrong data: what you really need is a summary of which posts are reaching the most people, and Facebook never makes that public.
If their censorship was not politically motivated, why not just release the data?
The question is not whether Russia, China or Iran will try to interfere with the 2024 election, but rather whether our government will allow it. That was certainly the case in 2016 and 2020. I don't see why we should think 2024 will be any different.
Liberty Vittert is a professor of data science at Washington University in St. Louis and resident statistician at The Hill's sister company, NewsNation..
