DailyPost 679
FACEBOOK FAKERS!
In the Information Age it would be difficult to differentiate between fake & the true, is the ultimate irony. That US Presidential Elections 2016 was meddled is a fact now. US’s official investigation has proved so. The President is not ready to buy that reality, as it shrouds the legitimacy of his Presidency. Facebook was at the center of the storm as proved by revelations. That a Social Media Giant can become so vital to country’s elections, was unimaginable. U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller charged the Internet Research Agency as one of the three agencies, with conspiracy to tamper the 2016 election.
There is a widespread apprehension that Russia would try doing the same again in the ensuing Congressional elections in November. Facebook in the earlier investigation could directly connect the Russian group, the Internet Research Agency to a myriad of posts, events & propaganda in the 2016 fiasco. Things are turning out to be much more difficult for Facebook, thanks to the Facebook Fakers learning the skills of covering their tracks. They seemed to have learned from their old mistakes & from the unfolding Social Media Digital Ecosystem.
Now the plot is well known & so are the players, it’s a tough war of attrition ahead with the technical prowess of the adversary having considerably increased. Facebook cannot play the ignorance card a second crime. Henceforth, they say all wars would be Cyber Wars. But what about elections? Electoral battles are being intensely contested much before the voter makes his noble journey to the polling booth. A foreign country also becomes a party to an internal national elections. The social media strategy might yield the biggest dividents. There is nothing true or false; it’s only victory or loss. Democracy is an antithetical blend of fear & loss, the Democratic Digital Cocktail of our times.
Facebook removed 32 pages & accounts from Facebook & Instagram for being involved in “coordinated inauthentic behavior.” The efforts at technical obfuscation has considerably improved. Language is made more contextual and payments look relevant. “Our technical forensics are insufficient to provide high confidence attribution at this time,” says FB.
DEMOCRACY HAS TO FIND A WAY OUT OF THIS DIGITAL CONUNDRUM.
Sanjay Sahay