As US voters get ready to vote in the midterms, a number of recent news events are shaping their social media feeds - the raid on Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago as he's investigated for possibly mishandling documents, abortion bans, and debates about gun rights. For Americast and Newsnight, BBC's Disinformation and Social Media correspondent Marianna Spring is investigating what voters are recommended online at a turbulent time for US politics.
I've created social media accounts belonging to five fake characters, who reflect views from across the political spectrum in the US. The people I created are based on data by a US think tank which defined types of voters after surveying more than 10,000 randomly selected US adults.
I've given each of them five profiles across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube and Twitter - with names and computer-generated photos. They are: Larry, the Faith and Flag conservative; Britney from the Populist Right; Gabriela, the less political Stressed Sideliner; Michael, the Democratic Mainstay; and Emma from the Progressive Left.
After just a week of running the accounts, Britney - the Populist Right Voter - has already been recommended and has encountered pages on Instagram and Facebook continuing to promote disinformation that Trump really won the 2020 election. She's also come across similar content on TikTok. False claims are sometimes accompanied by violent rhetoric in reference to Trump's opponents.
In contrast, the accounts belonging to...
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