00:00And let's get more on the role of social media in conflicts.
00:03Laurie Laird is a political commentator.
00:06Now, think of social media as the advent of television on steroids.
00:11It means that so many people can see a line that's different from what their government may be telling them.
00:19And if we look at these videos coming out of Iran, it's incredible that a content creator in Iran can
00:27create something that's culturally appropriate and send it to a device of a young adult in America.
00:33It's absolutely remarkable.
00:35So, yes, without a doubt, social media is a new front, not just in war, but in elections as well.
00:41The Lego videos that you mentioned, they are proving so popular on social media.
00:46Why do you think that is?
00:47Well, they're incredibly watchable.
00:50Have you seen them?
00:52They're colorful.
00:52They've got very good sound.
00:54And, of course, they're built on a really trusted brand.
00:58I mean, who does not like Lego?
01:00But they also feed into a need that has always been there.
01:05We talk so much about fake news right now, but a disbelief in a Western government narrative that's been around
01:13for as long as mass information flow has been around.
01:17And this Lego video allows people who are looking for alternative explanations to find one.
01:25But all this content on social media, that means that more people are engaging with news stories, albeit in a
01:32different way than they were before.
01:34So, is that a positive?
01:36Look, I go back and forth on the Siobhan.
01:39I have young adult children, and they would no more open a newspaper than they would, say, unload the dishwasher.
01:46But every once in a while, they will come home with a story that they've seen on social media and
01:52discuss it and will have, surprisingly, at least to my mind, insightful and thoughtful discussions about a news event.
02:01So, there is a part of me that feels very happy that they are engaging with something.
02:07I think this can be a force for good, but it does hark back to what we discussed a few
02:13moments earlier in helping young adults and kids even younger than that to identify what is true and what is
02:21false and to teach them how to make an informed judgment on the quality of the information that they're getting.
02:27How do you see social media's role in conflicts developing in the future?
02:34Siobhan, for good or for ill, social media is going to be a medium that affects public opinion as far
02:42as the eye can see.
02:43But there are reasons to think that perhaps social media may not become more influential than it actually is.
02:50There are a number of surveys that are showing that social media use is actually dropping.
02:58It's fallen quite precipitously if we look at the number of hours each user spends on any range of social
03:05media.
03:05That's fallen quite sharply between 2022 and 2024.
03:09That's the latest period for which we have statistics.
03:12And the most pronounced drop-off has been in the 16 to 24 age group.
03:17And we tend to think of habits that are formed during those years or habits that young adults take with
03:23them throughout their lifetime.
03:24So it may be that the influence, either for good or for ill, of social media on elections, on conflicts,
03:32that may be peaking.
03:33So it may be different sources of information are going to come into play.
03:37So it may be different sources of information are going to come into play.
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