Social media is sweeping across Jamaica like a deleterious pandemic.

It has infected just about every aspect of our daily lives and is now seeping into the nation’s body politic to the extent that this technological phenomenon may well help to decide in a more than fulsome way the outcomes of the local government and general elections due in short order.

During the period leading up to the 2020 General Election, the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), with its then self-acclaimed social media guru, now the de facto Information Minister Robert Nesta Morgan, at the helm, effectively used that communication platform to help persuade several Jamaicans to stand up and vote when they hear the bell. Since then, the People’s National Party (PNP), which seemingly is yet to fully get its act together with respect to using this medium in a winning way, has been desperately trying to play catch-up.

Talk on the road is that this upcoming election season is likely to be the most violent since the 1980 General Election, which saw hundreds of party followers being slaughtered, maimed, or disenfranchised. This comes against the backdrop that a great deal is at stake this time round.

For starters, the Andrew Michael Holness-led JLP will be seeking an unprecedented third term for Alexander Bustamante’s party, while the PNP, with a new leader at the helm in the person of Mark Jefferson Golding, wants to prevent that third-term dream from becoming a reality.

Against this backdrop, if one is to go by what is streaming on social media, it is safe to predict that this will be a no holds-barred race to the finish line to determine who will be first past the post. The slanderous/libellous, vitriolic, and scurrilous presentations on X(formerly Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube, and all other such “mass weapons” of misinformation, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that are being used by partisan hacks, trolls, and paid mercenaries of destructive verbiage and visual representations (oftentimes distorted or slanted) to convey negative messages or images are getting worse and “worserer”, as Louise “Miss Lou” Bennett-Coverley would say.

Then there are the various renegade, so-called news entities that churn out biased and sometimes outrightly false or distorted accounts of events focusing on high-profile personalities, including politicians, which are increasingly competing with the established media houses, pitting bona fide journalists against the ropes as they try to keep up with the printing or broadcasting of “breaking news”.

Notwithstanding the country’s libel laws, which are yet to be sufficiently tested in our courts in the context of what is happening in cyberspace, and the policing role of the Broadcasting Commission, unscrupulous people have been having a field day on social media, in many instances carrying out blatant acts of character assassination as well as spreading propaganda in order to discredit whomever or whatever. And in this current climate of increased “politicking”, the gloves are off and the games have begun!

In the meantime, one of the main players in this game of persuasion and dissuasion is the highly touted social media influencer who is fast becoming a celebrity in his or her own right. According to Google, “Influencers in social media are people who have built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. They make regular posts about that topic on their preferred social media channels and generate large followings of enthusiastic, engaged people who pay close attention to their views. Brands love social media influencers because they can create trends and encourage their followers to buy products they promote. In this context, it can be said that in today’s market-oriented environment political parties have become brands and it, therefore, behoves them to engage the services of social media influencers who can help to “sell their products”.

No doubt, both the JLP and PNP are aware of this window of opportunity and it has been revealed that bloggers and social media influencers are being engaged and paid handsomely to spread the “right” or “wrong” message. Of course, in this battle of “who is better to run this country”, as has been stated elsewhere, one of the first causalities of war is the truth.

Former United States President Donald J Trump has perfected the art of providing alternative facts to his followers and the wider American public in the same way that those who are rooting for either the JLP or the PNP will have embarked on twisting the truth to suit their respective agendas.

One of the dangerous side effects of this social media affectation is the fact that in Jamaica many citizens can barely read and write while others lack critical thinking skills, hence “suss” and hearsay take precedence. Needless to say, people’s lives can be destroyed or seriously disrupted and both parties as well as their leaders may be subject to destructive utterances and images that persuade their detractors (and even their followers) to scorn them.

One area that should be of great concern to both the JLP and PNP is the tendency for social media influencers to dig into the private lives of their leaders and major party operatives, casting all kinds of innuendoes on their sexual preferences or socialising activities. This practice has increased in recent times and has been pervading the social media space. The police and law enforcement agencies in general should intervene in order to stymie this pernicious pursuit.

However, there is the matter of how to bring these people to book, as from all indications some of these influencers are not resident in Jamaica, and at present one is not aware that there is any treaty arrangement to apprehend these miscreants. The bottom line is (no pun intended) that the politics of social media is here to stay, and it may well so overwhelm us that living a normal, happy, and useful life can become a daily challenge.

Lloyd B Smith has been involved full time in Jamaican media for the past 47 years. He has also served as a Member of Parliament and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives. He hails from western Jamaica where he is popularly known as the Governor. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or lbsmith4@gmail.com.