Propaganda and social media have a co-dependant relationship,
and in modern day,
it seems one cannot exist without the other’s presence.
Propaganda is a nasty word, tainted by a history riddled with dictators and brainwashing. Most infamously is that within Nazi Germany, and the work of Hitler’s propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels. From the years 1930 to 1945, he manufactured endless amounts of propaganda in order to produce the most effective, impactful, and destructive pieces of media. They would be artfully curated to target an incredibly specific demographic, and poison both their thought and actions. It is generally also this period that many of us associate most strongly with the book burning epidemic seen across dictatorships throughout history- censorship and propaganda reaching levels most of us could hardly imagine. That is not to say we no longer live in a propaganda- fuelled- society; only that now, it has taken on a much more subtle form: social media.
Propaganda has always provided interesting subject matter within literature and film. Particularly within the post-war early 20th century period, there was a rise in this genre, with the publishing of George Orwell’s ‘1984’, and Ray Bradbury’s ‘Fahrenheit 451’. Both novels present different variations of a dystopian future in which government control and propaganda has deepened, and free thought is a thing of the past. There seems to be a fascination with exploring and theorising about the extremity of propaganda’s power and the threat it poses to us as individuals and a society: a fascination possibly formed as consequence of fear at the concept of freedom of speech, and even freedom of thought, being under threat. A more terrifying notion is that it is now taking on new forms disguised with the use of social media. A new era of propaganda and misinformation is upon us; one far more complicated and obscure than ever seen before.
One of the struggles of producing effective and convincing propaganda is that it must remain entirely relevant and new, matching the fast pace of society and our current interests and biases. Within the last decade, social media has consistently retained this quality- it is always new, it is always exciting, and most importantly, it is always reflective of current feeling amongst society. But as much as art mirrors life, life mirrors art, meaning that what is presented as a reality online, tends to become just that. This ability to manifest change and action is why it has become such a potent and effective tool within the world of politics and propaganda. Potential future presidents now have TikTok accounts, allowing them to infiltrate and influence in a dangerously detached way. Policies and campaigns often fade into the back of our minds, replaced instead with video montages, and even memes, which provide very little context or content, yet are effective nonetheless at appealing to the younger generation.
One of propaganda’s most sinister qualities is its ability to cast a specific demographic as the villain within a narrative and provide angry and hurt people with a perfect scapegoat for their sufferings. We are witnessing this more and more, and with it, an increase of fascist extremism within democracies. In 2019, young voters in Germany leaned left, with the Green party favoured over the AfD buy a 5:1 margin. Since, there has been a shift, with more young voters supporting the extreme right wing AfD party than the Greens in 2024. This suggests that there has been a repositioning with the targeting of propaganda, with young people now a priority. The England Defence League’s riots of summer 2024, exampled again that young people, specifically young men, are increasingly involved within extreme right-wing politics. It could be suggested that this phenomenon is, in part, linked to the endless videos on various social media platforms encouraging blame within communities, and providing frustrated young people with a scapegoat.
Many of us would correlate propaganda and social media through one name: Elon Musk, a man notorious for both his presence within the technological world, as well as his close affiliations with Donald Trump. His social media platform X (which was once Twitter) seems to provide a haven for the festering and growth of misinformation. Musk’s X app has near total immunity from whatever falsities are spread on the software. With over 200 million followers, his confident spreading of propaganda and misinformation is detrimental to the world of media and news. He himself has been ferociously reposting stories claiming Democrats are importing numbers of illegal immigrants to vote for Harris in the upcoming election; a claim which has no basis. It is near impossible for monitoring groups to keep track or correct Musk’s falsities, meaning the majority continue to circulate across social media- taken by many as evidenced truths.
For this reason, it is imperative that now, more than ever, we as individuals have the confidence to analyse and think critically about the information fed to us. Critical thinking is becoming a survival skill, necessary to navigate a new era of media: full of soundbites, fake news, and propaganda. It is essential to understand the importance of context within news. It is listeners and readers who have the responsibility to deal with information delicately, considering biases and context, rather than perceiving the small fragment of a very large picture, to be complete.
Sources
Britanica
Holocaust encyclopedia
The spectator