The 2016 presidential election was the moment when social media emerged as the most powerful source of information in politics. Now, former Dallas Mavericks majority owner Mark Cuban predicts that social media algorithms could decide the president this November.
“This is the first AI-driven election season, where policies and personalities mean nothing and algorithms drive everything,” Cuban wrote in a post on X. “This appears to be an election where everyone’s frame of reference is driven more by the algorithmic narratives we consume than by the actual events themselves.”
Cuban added, “These algorithms [will] As new information evolves, it may or may not be accurate. [is] He writes that the most influential roles in politics are those who control the algorithms of each of the major online platforms, and the next most important roles are those in political campaigns who can figure out how to reverse engineer those algorithms and use them to their advantage.
One person asked Cuban if a candidate could win “just by their ability to game” algorithms, without focusing on policies or personality. In another post, Cuban said, “If a candidate is personable enough, online algorithms and video production experts can win,” and that such a win could be achieved by a campaign with 1,000 staffers producing nonstop videos that microtarget and test reactions.
Political campaigns have long depended on candidates’ ability to establish clear narratives for themselves and their opponents. Perhaps the most controversial was President Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 Daisy Girl Countdown television ad, which portrayed Republican opponent Barry Goldwater as leading the charge towards nuclear war. Peace, girl, The ad, which featured a child innocently counting the petals of a daisy, turns into a countdown to nuclear war. Though it only aired once, it is considered to be perhaps the most effective political advertisement of all time.
Cuban is right: artificial intelligence, the virtually unlimited influence of social media, and a society that no longer values accuracy or polite disagreement are a toxic mix. Add in foreign interference with messaging tailored to people with certain tendencies in their web habits, and you’re inviting deception and manipulation.
Social media continues to accelerate the trend of Americans receiving their news and political ideas from algorithmically driven sites designed to suit group preferences, and rejecting information that challenges their increasingly narrow worldview. In this echo chamber, misinformation and disinformation cut off accuracy and reason at algorithmic speed.
Social media continues to undermine representative democracy in ways that were unthinkable decades ago. Americans have unprecedented access to content but no way to distinguish truth from fiction, creating room for state and non-state actors to use the internet’s powerful influence as a political tool. That is why this Editorial Board called for federal accountability legislation.
Cuban believes the threat of algorithms extends beyond modern politics, and we agree. Separately, Cuban called the impact on kids “frightening,” telling Business Insider that “sites that don’t fully disclose their algorithms with full source code shouldn’t allow minors on their site.”
Our society has been sucked into a spiral down the drain, relegated to a dark corner, and for the sake of our future we need to shine a light into it.
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