Sophists were the first political philosophers, contemporary to Socrates, who believed that virtue, in general, is the ability to acquire those things that people agree, give them pleasure – wealth, honour and status; and political virtue, in particular, is the ability to acquire these things by the successful use of power. Which is why, they tutored rich and young the art of speaking well, which would help them in ‘swaying public opinion’.
Despite having more idealistic leaders after the sophists such as Socrates and Plato, we seem to have come a whole circle where we again have politicians trying to sway public opinions by use of speech. This influence has grown manifold with the emergence of social media, where the politicians are able to connect to the people on a more personal level. A well-thought strategy by a team of expert social media professionals is all that is required for the leaders to get attention from the public.
At times like this, the role of these platforms become very crucial in maintaining fair democracy in a country. Recognising this, social media giant Twitter, which is one of the most popular platforms among politicians and administrators across the world, has announced a ban on all political advertising from its service.
The bold step would cost the company significantly. However, considering this as its social responsibility, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey announced the new policy in a series of tweets, “While internet advertising is incredibly powerful and very effective for commercial advertisers, that power brings significant risks to politics, where it can be used to influence votes to affect the lives of millions.”
This comes at a time when Facebook announced that it will no longer fact-check political ads. Commenting on it, Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said that politicians have the right to free speech on Facebook.
The move has been hailed as well as criticised by many and increased pressure on Facebook to follow. However, this has been inconsequential so far.
Commenting on this, 2016 US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has tweeted, “This is the right thing to do for democracy in America and all over the world.”
Whereas Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale has said, “Twitter just walked away from hundreds of millions of dollars of potential revenue, a very dumb decision for their stockholders.”
The company has said it will make some exceptions, such as allowing ads that encourage voter turnout. It will describe those in a detailed policy it plans to release on November 15. Twitter’s policy will start on November 22.
