Social media headache

WITH social media playing a major role in the lead-up to the general election, Barbadians are being urged to be somewhat wary of what is being broadcast through such mediums.

The word of caution is coming from General Secretary of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and the new candidate for St. John, George Pilgrim. He made the point to the media yesterday afternoon during a press conference, as he noted that this is the first general election in this country that is likely to be heavily influenced by social media and fake news. He was speaking as he reflected on the efforts by detractors of the party to distort an advertisement for a community rally being hosted by the Christ Church East Central Member of Parliament, Ronald Jones, at Lodge Road tonight.

With the general election now constitutionally less than two months away, Pilgrim acknowledged that this new dimension will no doubt pose a challenge for the Electoral and Boundaries Commission now and into the future. He made the point while noting that the current laws governing elections in this country do not take the social media dynamic and the ability to advertise by way of such, into consideration.

“[But] no matter what laws are put in place, you would find that with the creativity of the detractors, they will find a way to distort the truth with respect to your achievements,” he said.

The DLP General Secretary’s comments came as he lamented that persons are making a living in this country from manufacturing fake news and it is now an industry. Agreeing with Pilgrim, Jones told reporters that it is unfortunate that many persons see what is disseminated via social media “as gospel”, and do not seek to question the information they may receive.

“We have had over the last number of years as a Government and as a party, a whole barrage of that negativity portrayed and promoted through social media, and sometimes even through what one views as established productions in the economy and society… If you promote something and you promote it and many others promote it and it takes an exponential surge across the place, people accept it as gospel, people accept it as the truth; and don’t care what you say after, you’re the one that is distorted, not those who have distorted the reality before,” he lamented.

Jones said that the DLP will also run its social media campaign, but he maintained it will be done with integrity. The Christ Church East Central candidate made the point while responding to a question as to whether the distortion of his ad would fall within the ambit of the Computer Misuse Act. Jones stated that going after persons who are in essence anonymous, could be a difficult though not impossible task, but it can become a nuisance to pursue and prosecute. As such, he said at this time they will seek to “appeal to the better inside of people”.

“We are really in the thick of the Wild West, if you can see that visualisation and before we are able to create a clean path, we will get a lot more of this. The Dems will not descend, I’ll tell you that, to this kind of behaviour and if there is anyone out there who supports us and believes that they should do this, the answer is no,” he maintained. (JRT)