The Right-Wing Employment of Social Media

Social media has seen politicians fight for votes in a new political arena, providing an increasingly easy forum of persuasion directly into the hands of much of the world. In more recent years, politicians have realised the value of the internet in gaining meaningful popularity. However, it is Donald Trump who has truly capitalised on the full power of social media. This article looks at the ways Trump is infiltrating social media platforms from the top down to persuade the American public towards his presidential direction.

Source - dole777

Global media access has brought in a concerning era of political persuasion. The impact of TikTok was seen with Nigel Farage’s influence of impressionable teenagers throughout his 2024 election run. Trump emulated this with both a personal and Team Trump account to gain popularity in his own election campaign. However, it’s his use of the platform following his inauguration which is most alarming. The threat of a US ban of TikTok has been looming for years; in fact, the executive order was first introduced by Trump himself. Despite this, when TikTok was reinstated to American devices (after just a few hours) it came with a banner crediting the work of Trump in bringing it back. Americans instantly flocked to the app to thank Trump for his work: a successful and immediate boost in popularity.

The reinstatement becomes more concerning with reports of algorithm changes promoting right wing content while hiding content from the left. If these allegations are true, the impact is vast: direct interference in media from the top. The alliance between Trump and TikTok was overtly shared with a TikTok sponsored party for Trump’s inauguration, as well as TikTok’s CEO attending Trump’s inauguration sat amongst the most influential politicians of recent decades.

But it’s not only TikTok that has been employed for right wing gains. Elon Musk (owner of X) has been front and centre throughout Trump’s election run. Musk’s influence at the top of one of the most powerful countries in the world could not have been made clearer. Similar reports have been made about content on X, with many left-wing users leaving the app altogether. This has left another arena for promoting right wing views. Trump has also shown signs of furthering Musk’s impact: stating he is open to Musk purchasing TikTok and allowing it to remain permanently.

Meta (the company owning both Instagram and Facebook) has also been used by the right. Thousands of users reported their accounts being made to follow Trump and JD Vance, some saying this happened repeatedly even after unfollowing. Global reports, as far as Australia, claimed search results for left wing terms were hidden. Whereas right wing content was pushed to users who would never have chosen to engage with it.

At the surface level this seems slightly concerning but ultimately inconsequential, however this perception is a mistake. Social media is ever growing in impact and significance globally, having a small group of right-wing elites controlling an increasing number of platforms will have great real term effects. The spread of right-wing views on homosexuality, transgender rights, gender and race equality will have an unfathomable impact on the vast majority of both the American and global population. Children will have only right-wing influence, and this will be evident when their generation reaches the voting age. Social media itself has the potential to keep right wing leaders in power; power they may not have retained without this control of media platforms.