The US Presidential election was the most anticipated event of the year since it was one of those big elections happening amidst the raging pandemic. The whopping engagements in social media on the topic is also the reflection of how people are engaging with the pandemic. With Joe Biden winning the election, many conspiracy theories, some even started back in 2017, is now getting dragged back into the spotlight.
Recently I saw an Instagram post - a video of Joe Biden with children. The video is edited in a way that makes Joe look like a "creepy guy"! A paedophile exactly! These posts actually align with the much shared #savethechildren campaign on Instagram which inturn has been mostly a rebranding of the infamous QAnon conspiracy theory!
Looking back at the efficiency of the social media platforms in managing misinformation during the US elections, one cannot but appreciate how platforms, especially Twitter went with regulating content in the last few days. From flagging Trump's misleading tweets to banning troll accounts, Twitter did a great job on both the election day and also the days after that. After the 2016 elections, it was pretty clear that social media had a role to play in the elections, possibly a big one! So many things were at stake in this election including democracy and free speech.
Social media experts are of the opinion that out of the three platforms (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) - Twitter did best, YouTube did worst and Facebook standing in the middle. But the fact is that even with the regulations, conspiracy theories found a way to reach its audience. The most notorious of them all, QAnon went viral through the uncommonest social media platform - Instagram!
Mainstream IG always carried the 'Politigram' (portmanteau word) version with it. This time QAnon took the 'photo sharing platform' and shared their content on it as if they were some 'liberal progressive activist' group fighting against child trafficking. Going deeper, one cannot deny the fact that it was the Instagram aesthetics that actually made QAnon famous! The word 'instagrammable' has many sorts of dimensions and well the conspiracy theorists has now brilliantly used this 'instagrammability' to work out its agenda!
Before I go into how IG facilitated QAnon, Let me introduce 'QAnon'. QAnon, let's say is an ideology or belief that spread from the remotest part of the internet, i.e from a 4chan message board to popular Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram timelines. It appeared in 4chan almost 3 years ago! The user who was behind this was called 'Q'; Q meaning top secret. Soon a community developed surrounding 'Q' and his posts. They created a grand narrative or a belief system or an elaborate conspiracy theory that "President Trump is fighting a global child-trafficking network led by Satanic Cannibalistic Left-wing Paedophile Elites"(Vox). According to Vox, the active QAnon members in prominent social media platforms grew from thousands to millions in just a matter of months before the elections! Just with the pandemic and increased social media usage, QAnon also spiralled to be an explosive conspiracy theory much more controversial than the 'Pizzagate'. This time too, Hilary Clinton was targetted. The real tragedy is that there are people who still believe that Hilary Clinton eats children! Many psychologists say that many beliefs were habituated as people went down the 'rabbithole'. Recently released Sacha Baron Cohen starrer - 'Borat movie' also addresses the QAnon facilitators. 'The Hunt' was also another movie based on the wild dreams of the 'Deep State'.
Earlier in 2020, the QAnon related interactions on Facebook spiked as elections were closing. As always Facebook acted late and soon QAnon hashtags started disappearing! But activities of anti-child trafficking related groups started spiking with the same QAnon content. Connected to this, a new #savethechildren started, this time on Instagram!
On first looks #savethechildren is something normal, not something harmful. But the fact that the anti-trafficking activities getting hijacked by QAnon proved costly! Even people on my TL shared IG videos of "creepy Biden". Those who wouldn't know of QAnon had no chance of knowing what this was about.
Now lets get back into the 'instagrammability' or the Instagram aesthetics that helped the rebranding of QAnon. Many things are advertised on IG. The way products or people are advertised, the seer inadvertantly gets a liking to it. Food, fashion, be it anything; Instagram has a unique way of presenting it. Often as Instagram users, We also try to tap into this 'instagrammability' when we share our photos in the platform! Anyway QAnon supporters used "soft, attractive, catchy colours" with texts and infographics that gave it rather an appeal to all of the IG citizens. The aesthetics bamboozled people into liking the posts without reading what it was about. Eventually, it spread like wildfire. Many influencers started to use #savethechildren and it soon created a trend on Instagram.
Actually this possibility to use IG (politigram) and it's aesthetics for QAnon is brilliant. Facebook couldn't take down the hashtag as it couldn't conclusively reject its nuances. Again the algorithm also had issues scanning texts written on slideshow images. This helped QAnon to share their theories to a far wider audience. As a result, many voters naturally became targets and it also had its effects as Trump didn't deny QAnon in the last debate when he was asked about it. Meanwhile, violence erupted in many parts of US in connection with QAnon.
Now, I'm writing this because QAnon has managed to convince people that politicians like Joe Biden are paedophiles. This US election was no ordinary democratic process in America! This was a 'moral referendum'! And it is far safe to say that the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is a resounding moral victory to all of us. How far QAnon has transformed US politics will be studied in the coming days only. Many people who believed and endorsed QAnon had actually run and won for the US congress. This is a big setback to the American democracy even with the Biden-Harris victory.
In this context, the growing effect and affect of social media in elections is a warning to all nations. Unlike the last time, the Big Tech Companies were against Trump. But still Facebook was dubious in its stance. Facing antitrust issues in both US and Europe, social media platforms are at a juncture where they would have to restructure or lobby themselves out!
The big question however is; can they regulate misinformation or stand for democracy in many other countries like they did in America, not that it is the best that they can do, but the least they should do!
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