September’s Op-Ed on Election Integrity. It will appear in the Shawano Leader on Friday, Sept. 18th.
The cornerstone of a democracy is the people’s right to elect their leaders. It is vital that our elections are safe and secure.
Today the majority of people in our country get their news from social media, primarily Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They are exposed to a daily dose of hoaxes, rumors, conspiracy theories and misleading news. When it’s all mixed in with reliable information from honest sources, the truth can be very hard to discern.
Facebook has echo chambers where a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their “own opinions”. Facebook is a private company controls the content you see according to algorithms and commercial interests. When a single company which controls the news content for the majority of the population, the possibility of abuse is rampant.
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