For Americast and Newsnight, I’ve created five characters - informed by research from Pew - to investigate what voters are exposed to and recommended across social media at a turbulent time for US politics.
Learn all about who they are & what they’ve seen so far on the first episode of the new-look Americast podcast & on Newsnight last night.
The characters reflect views across the political spectrum in the US and have 5 social media profiles. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…
The profiles are informed by data from Pew, which defined nine different typologies of US voters after conducting a wide-ranging survey in 2021.
The BBC has selected five of those nine types and based characters on those. More on how I created them here.
Let’s meet them…
1️⃣ Larry is what's known as a Faith and Flag Conservative. They're mostly white, male and about a third, like Larry, are retired. He's a committed Republican and Trump supporter. Pro-guns, anti-abortion. He gets his info from Fox News.
What’s he come across on social media? So far the account has seen posts criticizing the raid on Trump’s Mar-a-lago home. Some accounts say they plan to quit Instagram for Trump’s new platform Truth Social. Larry’s also been recommended pages promoting guns and other weapons.
2️⃣ Meet Mom-of-three Britney - who represents the populist right group. She’s a 50-year-old school secretary from Texas.
She shares a number of Larry's conservative views but she has a particular issue with big business and think the rich are behind a sinister global plot.
She's come across false claims on TikTok that Trump really won the 2020 election - sometimes referencing the raid on Mar-A-Lago & using violent rhetoric. The account has also been exposed to & recommended pages promoting false claims the election was rigged on Insta and Facebook
3️⃣ Gabriela is the more neutral voter - dubbed the Stressed sideliner in Pew’s research. Low-income, this group has the highest share of Hispanic voters. She's much less interested in politics - but when she is, she’s more likely to align with Democrats on guns and abortion.
So far, she hasn’t been exposed to much politics at all. Her profiles are generally apolitical and so instead, her social media feeds are dominated by posts about fashion, dance and saving money during the cost of living crisis.
4️⃣ Next - it’s Michael. He’s a committed Democrat and his group has the highest proportion of Black voters. He values faith and family and works as a teacher. He's moderate on social issues and turns to news outlets like CNN.
Unsurprisingly as he follows them, Michael has come across lots of content from the Democrat party.
His accounts have also been pushed memes like this one enjoying the investigation into Trump.
5️⃣ Finally we have our youngest fictitious voter Emma. Left and liberal, highly educated - and not into God. Passionate about the environment, racial and gender equality and as you'd imagine is pro-choice on abortion. What did her social media's algorithms come up with?
She’s been recommended Black Lives Matter accounts - and pages about environmental activism and women’s rights. Plus ads for the New York Times have found their way into her feed.
Even after just a week - our accounts have encountered false and misleading claims, aggravated by that raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home. Here’s the response from the social media sites.
We’ll see over coming weeks what our fictitious friends encounter on their social media feeds.
And I bet #Americast is one of the first BBC pods to make it onto BeReal!
The fab illustrations for @BBCNewsnight are by @HendinArts - and the headers for online by the visual journalism team at the BBC.
Also thanks to newsnight graphics for their work too!
Listen to Americast on BBC Sounds and tune into BBC 2's Newsnight for regular updates on what these profiles are recommended around major news events, and investigations into how they are targeted in the build-up to the midterms. bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-…
Here’s us sitting in the #Americast studio talking to the brilliant @adamfleming & #Newscast - and me explaining these many characters & their social media profiles.
What connects a dad in Pakistan, an amateur hockey player from Nova Scotia - and “Kevin” from Texas?
I tracked down people linked to Channel3Now, spoke to friends and questioned “management” to reveal real story behind the site accused of fuelling riots. bbc.com/news/articles/…
What I found appears to be a commercial operation attempting to aggregate crime news while making money on social media rather than linked to the Russian state. More on my investigation for Newscast & News at Ten. Really brilliant to see reaction to it! bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…
So chasing clicks appears to have been more important than checking the facts.
That’s partly down to the design of social media sites.
Here’s my analysis for BBC’s InDepth asking - what is Elon Musk’s game plan? Delving into the parallel universes on X. bbc.com/news/articles/…
Instead of a deepfake tsunami, the election on social media was activists shaping & manipulating conversation with tested tactics (including AI). I investigated with BBC’s Undercover Voters, holding social media companies to account. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
The concept of the “social media election” is dead. Instead, the world is constantly shaped by what’s happening on our feeds and group chats. This election was one in which the same old questions about social media regulation went unanswered. Listen here! bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0…
Hours before polls opened I spotted a clip going viral on X falsely suggesting @wesstreeting had used abusive language over war in Gaza - with a group of profiles under the clip lending it credibility.
Bot or Not? I’ve tracked down people posting about Reform branded ‘bots’. Lots genuine voters, others failed to prove they’re authentic. Reform UK says lots of support is real but is in touch with sites about fakes. Next Undercover Voters investigation. bbc.com/news/articles/…
I spotted comments on posts pushed to my Undercover Voters. I didn’t find posts or accusations in same way about other parties. Some I spoke to are real Reform supporters - while others had holes in stories or didn’t prove they’re authentic.
For online, News at Ten, Newscast.
Other investigations with the UK undercover voters include unpicking tactics of a network of left-leaning X accounts smearing politicians with deepfakes and comments. X has taken action against some of the accounts and posts. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…
It’s my birthday - and next ep of Why Do You Hate Me pod, where I investigate extraordinary cases of online hate!
With exclusive access to Premier League troll-busting team, I explore rise in hate targeting both players & their families - like Neal Maupay. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…
For the Radio 4 podcast, I go inside the Premier league team tracking down players’ abusers, talk to striker Neal Maupay about social media abuse & tracks down the man they helped convict for threatening him. Also a series for iPlayer, online & News at Ten.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0…
For the first time, the troll-busting team speaks to a reporter. I quiz them on finding anonymous trolls - and striking balance between protecting freedom of expression & dealing with hate. I also track down Maupay’s troll for answers. Online series here. bbc.co.uk/news/uk-682933…
Social media has been awash with false claims, conspiracies and hate surrounding what's happening in Israel and Gaza - and questions over whether inauthentic accounts are manipulating the conversation.
The denial playbook is out in full force online, used to cast doubt on whether some Israeli hostages are really civilians - or claiming Palestinian people in Gaza are faking injuries.
“80% of online abuse received by BBC journalists is directed at one woman: the corporation’s 27-year-old disinformation correspondent.”
Brilliant to speak to Sunday Times Mag on investigating disinfo, hate, social media & Radio 4’s Marianna in Conspiracyland pod! New ep later.
Go buy a paper or read here! Wonderful to be interviewed by @phoebeluckhurst & photographed by Sane Seven.
Trolls are the price of investigating and exposing world of social media, conspiracies and hate! Grateful to editors and teams who support me. thetimes.co.uk/article/the-bb…
@phoebeluckhurst V exciting that Radio 4’s Marianna in Conspiracyland has been a hit - including with younger audiences!
All eps on BBC Sounds - bonus episode later. Thanks to commissioner @Rhiroberts & Nathan Jones & top team @CloseEm @SamBonham @OLaceEvans @philipkmar bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m…