This is my second article on my experiences as a self employed person on a low income on the government’s abysmal Universal Credit (UC) ‘social security’ programme. When writing my first article, it was even a surprise to me just how many examples of incompetence I had experienced in only around 7 months as a claimant. Perhaps, then, I shouldn’t be surprised that in the following 6 months I’ve experienced so much more incompetence that it justifies writing a second article. The main issues I have faced are due to the process of transferring from the ‘Live Service’ which I was on in Sheffield, to the new and improved ‘Full Service’ here in Oldham. Additionally, as I’ve been self employed for over a year, I have been introduced to a new kind of sanction called the ‘Minimum Income Floor’ (MIF). Transferring from the ‘Live Service’ to the ‘Full Service’ A few days before moving house in September, I had a mandatory work coach meeting at the Job Centre. I used it to explain that ...
I recently decided to take a look at the Conservative Party's official Facebook page. People often talk of 'echo chambers' online, and I would hate to think that I was purely ideological and dismissing perfectly reasonable ideas from the other side of the political spectrum. Maybe the Conservative's official social media feed could convince me to change my views?
One of the first posts I saw was something regarding how the Tories were concerned about the anti-social behaviour of traveller communities. Immediately I thought "OK, so they're trying to use xenophobia to their political advantage. How surprising!", but that is not the focus of this article.
After a brief scroll I realised that practically every post on the page had between 100-400 shares. This struck me as slightly odd, considering that social media reach seemed to be more significant on the left-wing of British politics, playing a significant role in Labour's success in the 2017 election.
I then remembered a recent news story that described how the Conservatives had hired an 'army' on social media in order to counteract the effectiveness of Momentum and other left wing players on social media, and I wondered whether these shares were genuine posts by people who supported the Conservative message, or if there was another agenda at play.
It was easily possible to see who had shared these posts. I focused specifically on a relatively innocuous post regarding how the Cabinet had decided to use re-usable cups for their brews - I certainly agree with the sentiment behind the post.
At this point I was becoming slightly exasperated. Surely a member of the public had genuinely shared this post because they simply agreed with the message? The next share was Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East.
After that, another account that publicly shared dozens of posts every single day; almost entirely far-right propaganda, interspersed with random shares from 'viral news' pages.
Next in the list of insane, ostensibly pro-Tory Facebook accounts that shared this particular link was a profile which seemed to share nothing but dozens of posts from the official accounts of the Moroccan monarchy, Theresa May and the British Conservative party.
After the lover of the Moroccan monarchy and the Tory party, the next share was from someone whose profile claimed that he had been the chair of the Conservative party since 1973 (he isn't and never has been, currently it's Brandon Lewis MP). Next was someone who appeared to be from Morocco again, sharing dozens of posts from Liverpool FC fan pages, as well as a lot of what appeared to be propaganda for the Morrocan government/military/royalty.
I'll stop here...
I've literally described, in order, the first twelve people who have shared this specific post on the Conservative party's official Facebook page. Check it out for yourself if you find this hard to believe. I also found similar patterns on other posts on the page.
What this demonstrates is that a) apparently very few real people will share a post by the Tories without being paid, and that b) the Tories are hoping to artificially manipulate the public discourse to benefit themselves. Personally, I find the practice of hiring fake bot accounts in order to present an artificial air of popularity to be particularly abhorrent and undemocratic. If you have a political position, you should be able and willing to argue that position and hope to convince people that you are right: not just pay people to claim that they agree in order to convince real people that your ideas are agreeable. Instead, The Conservatives apparently opt for the latter technique.
Labour, under Jeremy Corbyn, has managed to foster a genuine atmosphere of enthusiasm on social media. The Conservatives (or their backers, this may or may not not be directly sanctioned from Conservative HQ), on the other hand, have characteristically decided to throw money at the problem and hope to create an air of social media popularity through artificial means. Although this may be somewhat effective at spreading the propaganda to a wider audience, and therefore may convince some voters, it seems to be an inherently less effective technique than simply convincing real people to share your content because they agree with it. Look at it this way: how many people are going to be convinced by someone who posts dozens of posts every day from B&M Stores or the Moroccan royalty with the odd bit of Tory propaganda thrown in for good measure?
Perhaps people on the left are guilty of being in 'echo chambers', but at least this involves real members of the public engaged in a discussion, rather than Conservative Party employees and bots in a staged online conversation.
One of the first posts I saw was something regarding how the Tories were concerned about the anti-social behaviour of traveller communities. Immediately I thought "OK, so they're trying to use xenophobia to their political advantage. How surprising!", but that is not the focus of this article.
I then remembered a recent news story that described how the Conservatives had hired an 'army' on social media in order to counteract the effectiveness of Momentum and other left wing players on social media, and I wondered whether these shares were genuine posts by people who supported the Conservative message, or if there was another agenda at play.
It was easily possible to see who had shared these posts. I focused specifically on a relatively innocuous post regarding how the Cabinet had decided to use re-usable cups for their brews - I certainly agree with the sentiment behind the post.
Clicking on 'shares' and exploring the public profiles of those who shared the rather mundane post, it immediately became clear that many of the people sharing the posts were not exactly ordinary members of the general public. The first share on the list was from a Conservative Councillor from Lancashire County Council. Fair enough: Tories sharing Tory posts, no big deal. The second share was from an obvious and bizarre bot account:
This account espoused odd and explicitly racist "Anti-Arab" views on first glance. I'm sure that the BBC will soon be calling out the open racism that can be found on official Conservative Facebook pages... Additionally, the page posted an incredible number of adverts for B&M Stores, interspersed with random bursts of pro-Tory propaganda. It seemed highly likely that this was a fake 'bot' account, designed to improve the social media reach of whoever pays its owner.
OK, I thought, one random racist bot account. The next share on the list was someone who had posted over 30 monarchist, right-wing and Tory supporting posts within the space of 48 hours. What real person would share, without being paid, at least 30 Facebook posts in two days, never mind explicitly political posts? This person also checked in at Conservative Central HQ on the 4th of April, apparently to do telephone canvassing.
Maybe three shares could be a coincidence? No, the fourth person on the list of shares literally had a picture of himself next to Boris Johnson as his cover photo, was a Conservative council candidate for South Tyneside and apparently the deputy chairman of the Conservative South Shields association. Next share: "The North West Tory", after that it was Brandon Lewis, Conservative MP for Great Yarmouth.
Then someone who didn't seem to be a Tory at all! At last, I thought, a genuine member of the public has shared one of these posts. Except that this person appeared to be a Labour supporter ironically sharing the post about re-usable cups as "Another great reason to support the blues". Perhaps he wasn't being ironic, in which case score 1 to the Tories!At this point I was becoming slightly exasperated. Surely a member of the public had genuinely shared this post because they simply agreed with the message? The next share was Bob Blackman, Tory MP for Harrow East.
After that, another account that publicly shared dozens of posts every single day; almost entirely far-right propaganda, interspersed with random shares from 'viral news' pages.
Next in the list of insane, ostensibly pro-Tory Facebook accounts that shared this particular link was a profile which seemed to share nothing but dozens of posts from the official accounts of the Moroccan monarchy, Theresa May and the British Conservative party.
I'll stop here...
I've literally described, in order, the first twelve people who have shared this specific post on the Conservative party's official Facebook page. Check it out for yourself if you find this hard to believe. I also found similar patterns on other posts on the page.
What this demonstrates is that a) apparently very few real people will share a post by the Tories without being paid, and that b) the Tories are hoping to artificially manipulate the public discourse to benefit themselves. Personally, I find the practice of hiring fake bot accounts in order to present an artificial air of popularity to be particularly abhorrent and undemocratic. If you have a political position, you should be able and willing to argue that position and hope to convince people that you are right: not just pay people to claim that they agree in order to convince real people that your ideas are agreeable. Instead, The Conservatives apparently opt for the latter technique.
Labour, under Jeremy Corbyn, has managed to foster a genuine atmosphere of enthusiasm on social media. The Conservatives (or their backers, this may or may not not be directly sanctioned from Conservative HQ), on the other hand, have characteristically decided to throw money at the problem and hope to create an air of social media popularity through artificial means. Although this may be somewhat effective at spreading the propaganda to a wider audience, and therefore may convince some voters, it seems to be an inherently less effective technique than simply convincing real people to share your content because they agree with it. Look at it this way: how many people are going to be convinced by someone who posts dozens of posts every day from B&M Stores or the Moroccan royalty with the odd bit of Tory propaganda thrown in for good measure?
Perhaps people on the left are guilty of being in 'echo chambers', but at least this involves real members of the public engaged in a discussion, rather than Conservative Party employees and bots in a staged online conversation.
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