During election campaigns, how can voters be sure they are not being fed misinformation on social media?

Step 1) Turn off social media.

Online election campaigning and electioneering was banned in Japan until 2013.

People who opposed lifting the ban said this would happen, and it did.

They cannot.

There are lies and misinformation on mass media too. Everyone cherry picks data or exaggerates things to push their agenda.

The best you can do is stay informed, stay open-minded, and talk to actual people. Learn about other countries too, to see whether problems are local ones, national ones, or global ones.

Stay off all social media at all times. I stopped 15 years ago and have never looked back.

Have faith in democracy, the electorate is savvy, educated, has politically honed street wise abilities.

To learn from their environment, communities, family, life style, the ability to measure recognise fact from fiction.

Trust the people instincts.

It is the politicans that need careful monitoring

How can people be sure that they are not fed misinformation on traditional media?

Politicians themselves are trying to shape narratives. Any media outlet is susceptible to misinformation. Very often, those complaining most loudly about “misinformation” are most upset that what people receive is not “my information.”

Mass media are just as bad as social media, because they parrot government announcements and do not openly criticize ministers because it will lose them access to the lobby.

Every time a broadcaster says "government sources say", they add legitimacy to what may be complete lies.

Stop watching NHK, CNN, and Fox "News".

Rocknroll....hmm....cant say I have faith in the people in elections.

Remember Germany ?

Hope for the best, expect the worse.

In the same way voters can be sure they are not being fed misinformation on mainstream media...

Wallace. Good move. But you don’t think Japan today biased and misinforming at times?

everyday I check, you are here. Mostly with well argued posts although I do not always agree with them.

I find this news( paper no more) quite untrustworthy. Japan tines no better. Asahi and Mainichi a bit better. But need to stay informed somehow even-tough the quality of the provided news is constantly declining.

GuruMick

Germany, good point

Adolf Hitler, German chancellor from January 30, 1933.

Hitler skilled use of propaganda transformed Germany from a multi-party republic into a one-party dictatorship.

The Nazi dictatorship was able to implement radical racial, political, and social economic system/policies through extremism, public acts of fear, book burning.

Even the loss of freedom, after would war one such policies life improved in Germany, for many hard-working ordinary people were clearly prepared to without question conform “worship” the Fuhrer

Those that did not comply literally moved from “citizens” to “outcasts.” targeted as a variety of alleged “enemies of the state” within German society.

How was such an horrific programme of brutal political ideological change implemented achieved?

Could the use of “social media” unprecedented ability to collect data on scales, every aspect of daily family life, billions of users are completely oblivious to, create a far greater global threat to democratic government?

It could indeed, when AI is added into the mix, political social regulation of social media, not only during general election, also the use and regulation of how such data is stored, essential privacy legislation becomes inevitable.

I huff and puff at the European Union,

However the European Union has implemented the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA) to regulate social media platforms and other online services was a necessity.

By the way Japan Today is a platform to voice comment and personal opinion, debate, not to be taken out of context.

According to the British government, you can now be a "terrorist organization" without terrorizing anyone. Just sit down in the road or throw some washable paint on something. Of course, everyone at the BBC agrees.

If you bomb hospitals and kill children with single sniper shots to the head, fire tank shells at UK aid workers and then go back and shoot them again, bomb residential parts of Beirut for some reason, like the case of Israel, you are an "ally".

I don't know the answer to the question, per se, but if social media takes time away from politicians using those obnoxious speaker cars to yell out their names and "yoroshiku o-negai shimasu," I'm all for it. Unfortunately, it's probably a "both-and" situation instead of an "either-or" situation.

During election campaigns, how can voters be sure they are not being fed misinformation on social media?

So mainstream official media doesn't feed misinformation?

Those effects are too much overestimated. First, it's balancing out, because those few misinformation campaigns are countered by the opposite or official information campaign too. And second, the ones who only visit social media instead of other media, those are also the ones usually not interested in politics or voting in elections. So even if they read it all, it has then not much consequences in election outcomes.