Information manipulation

It is not certain when it started but information manipulation has been used since
human beings began to omit reality or part of it so that only what someone wanted to be
known was known.
It is a pervasive and dangerous phenomenon in modern society, affecting
individuals, businesses, and entire nations. It takes many forms, ranging from subtle
propaganda and selective reporting to outright lies.
One of the most concerning aspects of information manipulation is its impact on
social cohesion and trust. When people are bombarded with conflicting, misleading, or
outright false information, it becomes difficult to discern what is true and what is not. This
can lead to a breakdown in communication and cooperation, as people retreat into their
own echo chambers and become increasingly polarized.
Lately information manipulation is more often used to change the opinion of the
public on a certain subject, like in politics. Political parties and campaigns use information
manipulation to take away credit from the opposition, use false amplification to reach a
wider audience or pretend like they have more public support than they do, or manipulate
political discourse in a way that favors their wallet. It is more often used by extremist groups
to gather support from the average voter . That happened in some recent historical events,
for example: in Donald Trump’s election for president of the United States Of America in
2016.
According to theguardian.com “The data analytics firm that worked with Donald
Trump’s election team and the winning Brexit campaign harvested millions of Facebook
profiles of US voters, in one of the tech giant’s biggest ever data breaches, and used them
to build a powerful software program to predict and influence choices at the ballot box
A whistleblower has revealed to the Observer how Cambridge Analytica – a
company owned by the hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, and headed at the time by
Trump’s key adviser Steve Bannon – used personal information taken without authorisation
in early 2014 to build a system that could profile individual US voters, in order to target
them with personalized political advertisements”.
Another form of information manipulation is done through the media. From radio
programs to social media posts, influencers tend to distort info that may harm them in the
vision of the general public. This happens mostly in social media platforms like twitter,
instagram and facebook just to name a few.
 For one Cambridge Analytica (the data collection company) had invested 1 million
dollars just in data collection which yielded around 50 million dollars, a copious amount just
for political reasons, evidently.

As you can see there is common ground between social, economical and political
reasons for manipulation information since

In conclusion, information manipulation is a complex and multifaceted issue that has

significant social, economic, and political implications. It is not something that can be easily
solved or eliminated, but it is something that must be acknowledged and addressed. This
requires a concerted effort from people, businesses, and governments to promote
transparency, critical thinking, and media literacy.

Only by working together can we hope to protect ourselves from the tragic effects of
information manipulation and ensure a more just and equitable society for all.

1-

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=0cec105037bbdde6JmltdHM9MTY3MzMwODgw
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WQ9NTE2Nw&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=03b0f2ed-dc03-64bd-1f99-e060dd646562&psq=Politica
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+use+false+amplification+to+reach+a+wider+audience+or+suggest+that+they+have+more
+public+support+than+they+do%2c+or+manipulate+political+discourse+in+a+way+that+ser
ves+their+campaign+agenda.&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaXJpLm9yZy9yZXNvdXJjZXMvY
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2-

https://www.iri.org/resources/combating-information-manipulation-a-playbook-for-ele
ctions-and-beyond

3-
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/mar/17/cambridge-analytica-facebook-influence-u
s-election