Irish Examiner view: Democracy under threat on social media

These media giants cannot merely shrug off content creators who deliberately use their sites to spread disinformation

Some social media platforms have stopped labelling or removing questionable posts. File picture: Alan Hamilton

Elections can be febrile things influenced by many external factors, no matter where they are taking place. Money, trenchant attitudes, political opportunism, false promises, and fear can all play a huge role in their outcome.

As we know, the process of democracy is a tender and frail thing which can be manipulated in many different ways to suit or stymie those looking to manipulate the running of any government or country.

History illustrates clearly that the clarion ‘voice of the people’ can be so twisted out of context that election skullduggery often beats polling results and throws up events which become catastrophic. And when wide swathes of those who have a responsibility to police actions that will have a definable effect on election outcomes become ignorant of, or blind to, those obligations, they must be held accountable.

With Ireland facing into what will be a vicious election cycle in the coming 18 months, it is the duty of our free press to be accountable for, and hold accountable, every claim, every supposed truth, and every bit of demagoguery that is made in the attempt to woo voters to support any given party or candidate.

So too the situation in the US as it hurtles towards a 2024 election that will test every element of the democratic process.

In that light, the recent lack of any form of policing by social media giants of content on their platforms — and particularly content which sets out to misinform, blind people to dazzling mistruths, or sell political falsehoods — is worrying.

That industry standards have been reset and strict rules on content abandoned in an effort to rebrand certain social media outlets as havens of free speech is enough of a concern, but that these moves threaten the basis for orderly and humane society in any part of our world is truly frightening.

As voters increasingly get their news on social media, companies such as Youtube, Meta, and X (Twitter to you and me) have stopped labelling or removing posts that falsely claim voter fraud in America’s last presidential election.

The covert and malign influence of any number of players in global elections in their attempts to subvert democracy is obvious and growing and that dynamic means we need more aggressive efforts to combat it — not less.

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Zimbabwe election 'fails credibility test'

Once regarded as the breadbasket of southern Africa, it is sobering that some 3.8m people are expected to go hungry this year in Zimbabwe, despite claims of a bumper harvest.

Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa described his electoral defeat by Emmerson Mnangagwa as 'a gigantic fraud' — and the Southern African Development Community observers said the poll had failed a credibility test. Picture: Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi/AP

This comes amid scenes of considerable political disquiet — internally and externally — about the results of last week’s presidential elections, in which Emmerson Mnangagwa was returned to power.

While unease about the conduct of the election is nothing new — votes there have been the subject of controversy ever since Robert Mugabe became prime minister in 1980 and subsequently president in 1987 — it has been usual for regional observers to express confidence in the results.

This time around, however, external election monitors have expressed their dissatisfaction with an outcome which saw Mr Mnangagwa beat the main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, by 52.6% to 44% of the vote, an outcome which the opposition leader described as a “gigantic fraud”.

His views appear to have been validated by the Southern African Development Community election observer, who said that the polls fell short of “the requirement of the constitution of Zimbabwe” and that, while the poll was largely peaceful, it failed a credibility test.

That view was taken further by an EU monitor who said the election had been held in a climate of “fear” after thousands queued for more than 12 hours, awaiting the delivery of ballot papers. Such were the delays, voting was extended for a whole day.

Whether or not illegality will be uncovered or even another election called, the fact remains that for the majority of Zimbabweans, the nation’s economy remains in tatters, while inflation, poverty, and unemployment are rampant.

Only in the coming days and weeks will it be determined if the country’s neighbours and allies will act to restore faith in Zimbabwe’s much-tarnished political credibility and to try and re-establish its reputation as a bountiful and abundant land.

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Welcome return of ospreys

Welcome news on the nature front is not something we have become particularly used to as humankind’s impact on our environment becomes more pronounced and, in some cases, irreversible.

Hot on the heels of news that a breeding pair of ospreys was nesting in Fermanagh, the NPWS released the first batch of osprey chicks in Co Waterford in its five-year reintroduction programme. Picture: Valerie O'Sullivan/NPWS

However, in recent days, the disclosure by the National Parks and Wildlife Service that osprey chicks have been released into the wild, having been extinct here for 150 years, provided a welcome respite.

The release of the osprey chicks, along with the discovery in Northern Ireland of a naturally established breeding osprey nesting site, is an avian milestone in this country and bodes well for our future plans to reconstruct an environment to allow these birds and others like them to thrive.

Once more it is an indication that where the right mix of expertise, determination, and investment is applied, the results for native species and those who have departed our shores, can be spectacular.

As we have seen with a variety of incidents in which white-tailed eagles and other diurnal raptors have been poisoned or otherwise killed, in the case of the osprey the farming community in the south-east has been very engaged in the programme and that bodes well for the birds’ continued wellbeing.

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