While most people view social media as something exclusively used by individuals or groups of friends, it is typically overlooked that governments use social media as a powerful tool for their own purposes as well. Governments have been known to turn social media into a propaganda machine to serve the purpose of deceit, distraction, and for the propagation of false stories to either gain public support behind an ideal or to set a populous against a common enemy. Depending on how social media is utilized, it can be used to tear people apart or bring people together. Evidence of the utilization of social media for this purpose can be seen when looking at countries like China, Russia, and even the United States.

One government which is well known for using social media for purposes of altering public perception is China. The Chinese government’s infamous “50 Cent Army” is a group of paid workers whose sole job is to misinform and distract to bring the public together under the idea that the government’s actions are just. The “50 Cent Army” posts “are about cheerleading and positive discussions…a strategy designed to actively distract and redirect public attention from ongoing criticism, other grievances, or collective action”. This is all in an attempt to increase public support for the actions of the Chinese government and prevent public dissent, especially in the form of protests and riots. To divert attention away from possible protest provoking articles, the “50 Cent Army” fabricates fake news stories that easily grab the attention of readers. Professor Gary King from Harvard describes the manipulative tactics of the Chinese government when he says, “They weren’t  censoring criticism of the government, they were only censoring posts with collective action potential”. This is an effective strategy due to the size of the country and the government’s inability to closely monitor every piece of criticism. Relating back to the central question of “Does social media tear us apart?”, I would suggest that this is an example of people being brought together by social media as opposed to being torn apart. Even though the Chinese people are being manipulated by their government, they are all united under the impression that their government is a figure of justice and freedom. This demonstrates the impressive reach of social media and how it can be used to contort the perceptions of over 1.3 billion people.

Another government which uses social media to manipulate public perception is Russia. In addition to spreading fake news stories within its own borders, the Russian government also uses social media to influence neighboring countries. Dr. Nerijus Maliukevičius from Vilnius University shares that the Russians create influence through exploiting “growing internal political splits, social and economic discontent, ethnic minorities, and prevailing [post-Soviet] media dependencies”. Slavic countries are the most at risk because they still have dependencies on Russia that date back to the Soviet Union. When Vladimir Putin came to power, he adopted a foreign policy “based on the principle of controlling post-Soviet [regions] by non-military but aggressive tools: shady investments, energy blackmail, and media manipulation”. A prime example of this is when Russia annexed Crimea. Months before the Russian military entered Crimea, there was an “aggressive anti-Western propaganda offensive” which took place. Russian social media broke the harmony within Crimea and caused public unrest. This set the stage for the annexation of Crimea being possible. This example is an affirmation of the central question because it shows how social media does have the capacity to tear people apart. In this example, the people torn apart would be the people of Crimea because they were divided to the point that they were easily taken over by Russia.

The United States government frequently utilizes social media, primarily to combat foreign propaganda about the U.S. abroad. However, the government is not allowed, by law, to protect the American people from foreign propaganda because that would be considered interfering in media and public perception. This distinguishes the United States from foreign nations due to the fact that the U.S. government plays no role in the manipulation of its citizens. Rand Waltzman, a former Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program manager gives his opinion of the law prohibiting the government from censoring foreign propaganda when he says, “What we learned is that ‘bullsh..t’ is a weapon that is being used worldwide to fundamentally attack the medium of the press, and that the issue of freedom of the press is, in fact, a diversion”. In this case, the word “diversion” is used to describe the lack of concern over the influence of foreign propaganda. Even though interference domestically is illegal, the government is able to use propaganda in foreign nations. The government specifically combats propaganda in foreign countries which are anti-America. They do this by creating fake social media accounts, also known as “sock puppet” accounts, and spamming pro-American messages on chat forums to drown out negative comments about the U.S. Critics of this defensive strategy used by the government say that “it will allow the US military to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives”. Even though the U.S. government is prohibited from interfering in the news cycle and anything which may impact public opinion domestically, they use social media to unite people together under the belief that the U.S. is good by combating negative stories about the U.S.

Overall, social media propaganda spread by governments tends to be extremely effective in reaching its audience and eliciting a desirable response. This is true whether or not social media is used to bring people together or tear people apart. It seems that the determining factor in whether or not social media is destructive is its user and the user intent.