The Double Edged Sword of Social Media and Civic Engagement

            When social media first began gaining popularity it seemed like a fun way to connect and interactive with friends, both old and new. People could share pictures and write messages to each other on Facebook, friends could share videos on Snapchat, and anyone could write a tweet and add a clever hashtag with hopes it would go viral. However, the potential for social media soon exploded far beyond casual social interactions. The global popularity and reach of platforms like Facebook and Twitter made them the perfect tools for grassroots civic engagement. Suddenly anyone could make a Facebook page about an issue they cared about and share it with the world, or write a tweet promoting a cause and add a hashtag that would carry the message to millions of users. By giving a voice to marginalized groups in society, social media became a catapult for movements like Black Lives Matter and MeToo. Through social media, these types of grassroots civic movements were able to amass huge support bases by erasing the barriers of place, class, and age. However, while social media provides a crucial tool for communication and civic engagement for causes promoting positive agendas, it has the equal ability to unite those who have violent, hateful agendas; and those who wish to spread destructive disinformation. Social media as a tool is morally neutral; however, depending on how it is used it can be a uniting and constructive societal force, or a divisive and destructive one.

            According to political scientist Clay Shirky, “access to information is far less important, politically, than access to conversation“ (35). Shirky contends that individuals do not form political beliefs primarily based on the information one receives, but on the conversations and interactions that occur afterward with others (34). Traditionally in America discussion of issues and organization of civic engagement has been the domain of political parties, university organizations, churches and other hierarchical structures that are dominated by a central message established by elites that control these organizations. As a result, marginalized segments such as the poor, women, racial minorities, ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ community have been left out of crucial societal conversations. Social media provides an equalizing platform for these conversations on an enormous scale, enabling people from around the globe and across socio-economic boundaries to express opinions on an endless range of issues. This universal access to conversation has provided a platform for the most marginalized segments of society to have a voice.

            In 2013, three black women coined the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter (Rickford 1). The hashtag exploded and started a grassroots movement of civic engagement, initially to protest police brutality aimed towards African Americans, but grew to address a host of other civil rights issues facing the black community. Using social media, BlackLivesMatter was able to organize events, protests, share ideas, and force the issue of race relations to the forefront of the national consciousness. Not only did social media enable BlackLivesMatter to reach an enormous audience, but the grassroots and egalitarian nature of social media allowed the movement to side-step traditional centers of civic engagement in the black community and, “center those close to the margins – women, queer people, and various non-elites […] signal[ing] an ethos of inclusiveness and a desire for a fundamental rearrangement of power relations” (Rickford 3).

            Like BlackLivesMatter, the MeToo movement gained a mass audience using social media. In the lead up to the 2016 election, actress Alyssa Milano encouraged survivors of sexual harassment and assault to use the hashtag #MeToo, and the response was explosive (Rodino-Colocino 98). Suddenly women (and men) from around the world were sharing stories, offering support and organizing events and protests. Issues of sexual violence and exploitation gained intense national attention as everyday people had the ability to participate in an on-going conversation hosted on social media platforms. Like BlackLiveMatter, MeToo gave a voice to segments of society not traditionally heard by, “counter[ing] the othering, distancing, and ultimately, the unequal relations of power that sexual assault symptomatizes and reinforces” (Rodino-Colocino 99). Using social media and a simple hashtag, MeToo connected disparate groups, fostering civic engagement around a common issue that has led to the identification of perpetrators and a national examination of the role of gender, power and abuse at all levels of society.   

            Social media has been a successful tool in organizing and giving a voice to the marginalized and oppressed, allowing them to express ideas of inclusiveness, justice, and accountability. However, it has also given a platform for those with ideas of exclusion and hate. White supremacists have also harnessed social media platforms to organize. The deadly events that took place in Charlottesville in 2017, “were perhaps the most visible manifestation to date of the evolution of the American far right, a coalition of old and new white supremacist groups connect by social media.” (Fausset and Feuer 1) The large turn-out of Alt Right marchers to protest the removal of a Robert E Lee statue was a result of disparate extremist groups, and non-member individuals who shared their views, to communicate and organize their movements. According to Matthew Heimbach, a leader of one of the neo-Nazi groups present that day, “’We showed that our movement in not just online, but growing physically. We asserted ourselves as the voice of white America’” (Fausset and Feuer 1).

            Social media’s ability to spread ideas and engage a wide audience in conversation has included those with racist, xenophobic, and hateful messages. According to George Hawley, a political scientist with University of Alabama, most young Alt Right members have developed their bigoted and racist views from interactions online (Fausset and Feuer 4). Unfortunately, social media can give a platform for counter-productive conversations regarding national issues, as well as the quick dissemination of harmful disinformation. One of the most prominent examples of this phenomenon is the popularity of Alex Jones. Alex Jones has used radio and his website InfoWars for years to extol a wide range of unsubstantiated conspiracy theories and fan his listeners xenophobic and racist fears. He has used Facebook, Twitter and Youtube to reach his audience, at one point having 2.4 million subscribers to his YouTube channel (Coaston 2). One of his most despicable theories was that the tragedy at Sandy Hook was staged as a false flag operation by the government and that no children were killed in the massacre, but that child actors were used instead. This led to his followers actively harassing the families of Sandy Hook victims, such as Leonard Pozner whose son was killed (Coaston 4). Alex Jones also played an active role in promoting the PizzaGate conspiracy, along with others as “the #pizzagate hashtag grew swiftly and the ideas nested in Reddit began to spread to mainstream social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube” (Mihailidis and Viotty 444) This theory claimed that democrats were running a child sex slave ring out of a DC pizzeria, and resulted in a gun wielding believer arriving at the pizza shop to presumable free the children (Mihailidis and Viotty 444). In this instance, as well as with the Sandy Hook conspiracy, individuals like Alex Jones used social media to spread disinformation that led to real life action with potentially devastating consequences.

            The main social media outlets have fought back against hate groups and spreaders of disinformation by shutting down certain accounts, such Alex Jones’ Facebook and YouTube Channel (Coaston 1). However, the proverbial cat is out of the bag regarding the power of social media to connect and organize individuals into civic action, both good and bad. In recent years Alt Right activist have begun an attempt to create their own versions of social media to counter mainstream sites where they have been banned. This has led to the creation of Alt Right and neo-Nazi social media platforms like Gab, WrongThink, and PewTub, where hate speech and disinformation is not monitored or removed by administrators (Roose 1). The good news is that these sites have struggled to find solid footing due to lack of funding and technological ability, and as of October 29^th, 2018 the site Gab has been shut down by its hosting provider after the account of Robert Bowers, the accused Pittsburgh synagogue shooter that killed 11 people, was found riddled with anti-Semitic posts (Molina 1). Still, the potential for social media sites exclusively suited to promote conversations of hate and exclusion is troublesome considering the ability of social media to support grass root movements that translate into real world action. One question social media will have to grapple with when facing the fact that hate groups have embraced their platforms is “will the overt displays of racism return the extreme right-wing to the margins of politics, or will they serve to normalize the movement, allowing it to weave itself deeper into the national conversation?” (Fausset and Feuer 1).

            Social media has an incredible capacity to unite like-minded individuals and provide a platform for those often left out of the national conversation regarding crucial societal issues. This can lead to positive civic action, such as the demand for equality, justice, and inclusiveness. BlackLivesMatter and MeToo have successfully wielded social media to push these issues to the forefront of the national agenda and have the potential to enact systematic changes to correct the abuse and imbalance of power in society. However, social media can also be used as a tool to unite those who would like to see society more divided and promote hateful and bigoted agendas. The question becomes, will social media ultimately serve as a positive or negative tool for engaging individuals in conversation and civic action? Will social media encourage constructive conversations between those with opposing views and help society find common ground on nationally pressing issues? Or will it create more vitriolic and divisive dialogue as individuals find themselves in echo chambers, further entrenching them in their pre-existing beliefs and making them more resistant to outside opinions? Herein lies the double-edged sword of social media. As an equalizing platform it has an enormous capacity to give voice to those on the fringes, but it cannot control their agenda.

Coaston, Jane. “Youtube, Facebook, and Apple’s Ban on Alex Jones, Explained: And Why Some on the Right are Calling it ‘Collusion.’” Vox, https://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17655658/alex-jones-facebook-youtube-conspiracy-theories. Accessed 10/22/2018

Fausset, Richard, and Alan Feuer. “Far-Right Groups Surge Into National View in Charlottesville.” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/far-right-groups-blaze-into-national-view-in-charlottesville.html?_r=0. Accessed 10/22/2018

Mihailidis, Paul, and Samantha Viotty. “Spreadable Spectacle in Digital Culture: Civic Expression, Fake News, and the Role of Media Literacies in ‘Post-Fact’ Society.” American Behavioral Scientist, vol. 61, no. 4, Apr. 2017, pp. 441–454, doi:10.1177/0002764217701217. Accessed 10/22/2018

Molina, Brett. “Gab, the Social Network Used By Accused Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooter, Goes Offline.” USA Today, https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/nation-now/2018/10/29/gab-goes-offline-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/1804582002/. Accessed 10/29/2018

Rickford, Russell. “Black Lives Matter: Toward a Modern Practice of Mass Struggle.” New Labor Forum, vol. 25, no. 1, Jan. 2016, pp. 34–42, doi:10.1177/1095796015620171. Accessed 10/22/2018

Rodino-Colocino, Michelle. “Me too, #MeToo: Countering Cruelty with Empathy.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, vol. 15, no.1, Jan. 2018,  pp. 96-100, doi: 10.1080/14791420.2018.1435083. Accessed 10/22/2018

Roose, Kevin. “The Alt-Right Created a Parallel Internet. It’s an Unholy Mess.” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/11/technology/alt-right-internet.html. Accessed 10/22/2018

Shirky, Clay. “The Political Power of Social Media: Technology, the Public Sphere, and Political Change.” Foreign Affairs, vol. 90, no. 1, Jan/Feb 2011, pp. 28-41, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2010-12-20/political-power-social-media. Accessed 10/22/2018