The moment a political crisis erupts in Ireland, the scramble for narrative control inevitably follows. The typical arenas for this dispute over the plot are the Dáil, broadcasts, and, gathering momentum over the past two decades, social media platforms. During the previous electoral campaign in 2020, no party took advantage of the digital realm as powerfully as Sinn Féin did. Collections of online accounts, fervently supporting and shielding the party, gained the nickname “Shinnerbots” due to their vigorous involvement in party-related discussions, to such a degree that party authorities have been forced to publicly refute any encouragement or endorsement of this online harassment and trolling.
This week observed Sinn Féin embroiled in a challenging endeavour to regain control of the story. As voting draws nearer, the party is contending with the repercussions of the recent departure of Brian Stanley from Sinn Féin, in conjunction with numerous child protection controversies involving party affiliates and queries into how these situations have been managed. Party leader Mary Lou McDonald was grilled in a heated interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, where she defended the party’s conduct. She has since been striving to defend her leadership’s image in the Dáil. However, throughout these controversies, the typically vocal “Shinnerbots” have maintained an unusual silence. If one were to peruse Search X (previously Twitter) for mentions of Brian Stanley, they’d primarily encounter colourless news accounts peppered with indifferent, and possibly automated, defamation attempts in random directions. Is it possible that the platform’s relevance has diminished to the point where incessant criticisms seem futile?
This shift has been anticipated for a while, however, this could be the turning point signalling the end of the social media era as we recognise it. Any misconceptions previously held that social media accurately gauged public or specific community sentiment, and was a platform worth exploiting, have been dispelled.
Nearly two years have passed after Elon Musk assumed control over Twitter, now rechristened as “X,” which led to the dismissal of about three-quarters of the crew. This period has witnessed the moderation features of X becoming almost defunct and a subsequent spike in reports of hostility and disinformation. As a result, the user base is drastically shrinking. According to The Financial Times, the daily user count in the UK has fallen by approximately one-third since Musk’s entry. Significantly, the number of adults sharing political material has been halved. Advertisers have deserted the platform in droves which has sparked a legal battle between Musk, the self-professed “proponent of free speech,” and the firm’s marketers for downscaling their advertisement expenses on the platform.
Changes in the way viral content creators are applauded and reimbursed on social media platforms are also contributing to the dwindling sway of social media on politics. For instance, TikTok launched the “creator fund” in 2020, which financially rewarded those in charge of accounts producing content attracting broad viewership. This approach has now been adopted by X and Instagram.
Theprofessional content creators’ income now depends on their reach, transforming social media platforms into personal micro-broadcasting channels rather than networks of social contacts. The success of an influencer is now contingent on their skill to adapt to evolving trends and algorithms. Therefore, political content is less popular. The Wall St Journal’s investigation this week revealed that Facebook, Instagram and Threads are significantly limiting political content. This has caused political accounts’ reach to reduce by around 65%. A 63% reduction in viewership was reported by influencers who mentioned the word “vote” in their posts.
Programmes for content creators have introduced fresh schemes that enable exploitation of existing systems for monetary gain. It’s worth noting that on certain platforms, cash rewards bear no relationship to the meaningful standards of authenticity, quality or relevance of published content. Rather, they incentivise material that can manipulate the algorithms. This content often leans towards the sensational, emotional, or simply strange. This introduces the term ‘Slop’, which will bring to mind, for those who’ve worked in pubs, the display of remnants from discarded end-of-day beverages accumulating in a single container. Slop is also the latest term for the onslaught of low-quality, mass-produced AI-generated content cluttering everything from the results of search engines to the feeds of social media.
As trendy influencers and this type of content, Slop, start to control platforms, remnants of authentic public discussions become increasingly lost, pulling social media even further away from being a true reflection of societal viewpoints.
Slop, often peculiar or extravagant, can range from viral images such as “Shrimp Jesus” that spread on Facebook recently, to emotive, often synthetic or manipulated imagery. An example is the unnerving image of a young girl, gripping a puppy tightly amidst flooding, that was shared during the recent floods in Florida, and even endorsed by a US senator.
Slop is predominantly churned out en masse by AI-fuelled spam pages, promoted by recommendation algorithms. The intent behind this is financial – AI material is inexpensive to generate on a large scale, and offers an opportunity to earn, whether through a content creator’s fund, driving audiences towards advertising-intense websites, or endorsing inexpensive products and fraudulent schemes. This type of content is becoming increasingly common across platforms, contributing to the emergence of what’s known as the ‘zombie internet’.
Interestingly, social media was never a dependable indicator of societal views. Despite its image as a platform for democratic expression, it has always had its algorithms heavily slanted towards sensationalist and controversial material, often assisting the ambitions of notorious political ‘bots’. Nevertheless, platforms like Facebook and Twitter once acted as a useful medium for people such as journalists and politicians to interact with and gauge smaller, niche communities.
As the anticipation of upcoming voting intensifies, campaigners as well as those documenting the political battle will strive to understand the thoughts and inclinations of the masses. It could be enticing for them to utilise the digital tools that have been beneficial in the past. Nevertheless, social media’s standing as a reliable instrument to determine public sentiment has significantly deteriorated. In a forthcoming general election, this will complicate the task of steering the discourse for political factions.
Liz Carolan, who focuses on subjects relating to democracy and technology, contributes her writings to TheBriefing.ie.