Why are we so polarized? What if more than 50% of all tweets on hot topics impacting our society were fake accounts created by digital robots programmed to polarize our communities and alienate countries on the international stage? What if “election interference” was a straw man in comparison to the real threat to democracies everywhere? What if the titans of social media have grown so powerful that they are literally helping to write the laws that will be the playing field for the decade to come? Welcome to the 2020’s.
“The War Zone on Your Phone,” Part 2 of Tribe Journal’s ongoing series on Social Media Wars, pieces together the puzzling reality at the intersection of digital wars and conflict on the ground. It is not new news that countries are warring against each other trying disrupt and catalyze countries to destroy themselves. It is not new news that fake news is pervasive and hinders democractic nations from functioning. It is not new news that people behave tribally and individual judgement is distorted by confirmation bias. This documentary presents a clear and concise picture of precisely how these wars are being fought online, how the platforms remain unaccountable and profit on our country’s demise, and what humans can do about it.
Part 2
Part 1
The first installment identifies how war has been disrupted. Originally aired in 2018, this documentary was created for executives running large global organizations seeking to bring their strategies into the 21st century. Many such behemoth foundations and organizations continue to use strategies from yesteryear. This series is a wake up call to community leaders and lay leaders alike.
"If iPhones are War Zones, then the social media apps are the ammunition dump utilized by foreign and extremist groups to super spread dangerous content across the web. J.P. is doing extraordinarily vital work to uncover the misuse of mobile devices as vectors of extremist incitement."
Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, President of the Coalition for a Safer Web, Washington, D.C.
"J.P. Katz has produced an outstanding, thought-provoking documentary film entitled Social Media Wars, which reveals that emotional articles online create more social engagement and appearances in news feeds at the cost of accuracy. Worse, the weaponization of online phenomena such as FACEBOOK can include propagating fake online accounts, disseminate propaganda, and distort reality."
Professor Charles Lewis, Professor and Executive Editor, Investigative Reporting Workshop, The American University School of Communication
J.P. Katz is Director of The TRIBE Group, a boutique consulting firm helping organizations and individuals identify, access and actualize their true potential. To schedule a meeting email info@tribejournal.org.
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