Social media noise as authority

For centuries, public disclosure has had filters. Newspapers publications have editors. Publishers relied on fact while universities used peer review. These were some of the accepted norms that propelled society to greatness.

It is quite shocking that in the moment, intellectual honesty requires courage, admitting uncertainty, seeking expert knowledge, and changing one’s mindset in the face of evidence are no longer rewarded behaviours. Instead the platform rewards certainty, algorithms favour outrage and attention flows to whoever shouts the loudest. Being careful, thoughtful, and humble about what you actually know has become a radical act.

Then, systems were imperfect and often excluded voices that deserve to be heard, while protecting entrenched power. But they also enforced responsibility. Then, if one wanted to publish a medical claim, one needed researched proof. If one wanted to shape public opinion, he or she needed credibility. Presently, when falsehood is spread, there are consequences which the internet has erased.

Suddenly and presently, anyone could reach out to millions. People who are less knowledgeable about issues could post from the comfort of their bedrooms. An uninformed teenager who is posting from his bedroom now has the same platform with a seasoned academic. A conspiracy theorist could attract as much attention as a journalist who had spent months verifying an exclusive investigative story. And the most extreme uninformed voices travel the fastest.

The rate and manner which social media empowered and created overnight authorities is quite alarming. Most people claim to be social media influencers, content creators etc. Yes, with the level of zero job creation in the country, people could find something to do instead of staying idle; but let it be done with quality creativity, research, education and justifiable knowledge. Most online dieticians, health practitioners, preachers and cosmetologists who trade on social media, how knowledgeable are they in the field of what they are sharing to millions of people? Who made them authorities in those areas? A lot of foreign influences on what was known as ‘Try Your Luck’ then have become authorities as well on social media.

The social media power which has no regulation is the reason a supposed social media influencer and self-acclaimed relationship therapist came on line recently to claim she is down with stage–four cancer of the breast. It was shocking. People sympathized with her. Her comment session was flooded with arguments. Especially while her emotional video trended online. The influencer said she is overwhelmed and powerless. She also said she has no clue on what to do because she needs to go in for surgery as soon as possible.       

“I have been diagnosed with breast cancer. At this point, an urgent surgery is needed for amputation to stop the spread or to know how far the spread has gone. Or possibly, if one of the breasts or the two would be taken off. It was a hard decision to come online and do this. But the truth is when predicaments like this come to one, one becomes powerless. I might not be able to do anything, influence or to work. Resources have gone into this, and that is why I have come out to plead. If I have ever touched you before, if my words have shown any positivity in your life, if you have ever said you love me, this is the time to show it. Thank you so much for the love.  My phone is buzzing. God bless you all. Nothing is too small. I just want to be fine. I hope to start the surgery as fast as possible. I need all the love. I have never been this clueless all my life. I thought I was strong. Being strong is now my biggest weakness,” she said. To think that all these self-acclaimed diagnosis was a fluke and unbelievable is confusing as well. Well, it became possible because social media made it so.

In analyzing the influencer’s stage-4 cancer claim, which was eventually discovered to be false, some netizens called for her arrest and refunds to be made. Misleading the public was enough to deserve punishment. Initially, some thought it was content creation, especially when her hair was shaved online.  One of the side effects of chemotherapy, which cancer patients go through is hair loss. But when the influencer began to shave her hair online to attract sympathy from the whole world, her claim became questionable. That was why some people came to her comment section and boldly requested for her treatment details which allegedly belonged to another person.

Who could imagine that someone would wake up and create content with stage-4 cancer of the breast? She went as far as presenting a cancer treatment certificate that allegedly belonged to another patient. Nigerians are waiting earnestly to see the end of this shenanigan.

In 2015, an 83-year old Italian philosopher Umberto Eco described, with unsettling accuracy, what would unravel rational conversation. We now live in the world Eco warned about. He was a medieval scholar, a semiotician who studied signs and symbols and also an author. Eco understood how societies decide what counts as truth. When social media began to dominate public life, Eco watched with increasing concern. In June 2015, in an interview in Italy, he was asked about the effect of the internet on society, his answer was direct and provocative. “Social Media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of red wine without harming the community. Back then, they were quickly ignored; now, they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner which he described as ‘invasion of idiots.’

He continued. People who warn about when expertise is stripped of value, when years of study and evidence are treated as equal to a stranger’s instinct or opinion. That our individual action makes a summation of our society is no longer in doubt.

Social media platforms do not reward accuracy, they reward engagement. Anger, fear, and absolute certainty spread better than distinction. A careful post explaining that an issue is complex and deserves thoughtful consideration rarely goes far. But a post where girls are completely naked explodes across feeds immediately. Some platforms do not tell users which information comes from experts and which comes from people with no relevant knowledge. They simply present everything and leave the audience to sort it out. This is what Eco meant by the ‘invasion of idiots.’ Not that ordinary people lack intelligence, but that systems amplify the loudest and most confident voices regardless of whether they know what they are talking about.

This got so bad I saw people telling how money could be attracted through bay leaves, curry, ginger and garlic. Where are we? Through their online discovery, hard work, consistency, career path and prudence have ceased to bring monetary reward.  The situation has become a global pandemic where misinformation traveled faster than the disease, leading people to trust social media posts over doctors, with deadly consequences. Some gullible people consume whatever they see online.

A distant relative lost his life after consuming drugs he saw online for a specific ailment. His wife told his family how he was constantly patronizing online medication instead of going to the hospital to see the doctor.

In all the warnings of Umberto Eco who passed unto glory a year after his interview, he did live to see how completely his warning has been confirmed. He did not see artificial intelligence making realistic fake videos possible, or even automated accounts flooding platforms with propaganda.

I personally agree that his warning in 2015 was not bitterness. It was an act of care for knowledge, for public discourse, and the possibility of understanding one another through reason instead of tribal loyalty. The problem was never that foolish voices appeared. They were always present and amplified while expertise was dismissed. The internet has reshaped communication in ways that truth was being buried beneath noise.