With an imminent Australian Federal election on the horizon, you may have noticed your newsfeed starting to drip feed some pretty weird political ads (Yes, I’m looking at you Clive Palmer) and it begs the question – what role does social media and fake news play on politics and how should brands navigate this?
As we look to the US and the first months of a Trump 2026 presidency which has created an even louder voice for the Musk’s and the Zuckerberg’s of the worlds, the role of governance and policy in social platforms has never been so important.
According to Global Witness, TikTok alarmingly approved 50% of ads containing false information about the US election – despite its policy banning all political ads. A large portion of these are ‘deepfakes’ – those spookily accurate AI created synthetic medias of images, video or audio created with artificial intelligence to manipulate or generate content to make it appear realistic when it is actually false.
So, can social platforms and social politics coexist in harmony or should we just accept those old school propaganda platforms have just found a new home on the internet? Fortunately, Australia is one step ahead.
This year, The Australian Electoral Commission has launched a suite of additional tools that aim to help voters navigate the increasingly complex information environment that social and media platforms can create. The AEC’s message to ‘Stop and Consider’ provides consumers with a range of tangible tips and resources that aim to debunk including how to spot a bot account and markers of misinformation on posts that may be spreading digital misinformation.
A renewed sense of digital literacy and social fact checking has taken a much more prominent focus in this year’s election conversation, but what does this pressure mean for brands and advertisers? Here’s three tips to consider if you’re a brand advertising on social media this month.
- Create social proof: In a social media context where consumers might already be sceptical about the content they’re seeing online, place an emphasis on authenticity. No one wants to buy in to a concept, show your audience social proof.
- Choose your timing: Is an exciting key message going to get lost in the week of an election? Probably. While your brand might have a commercial objective, be tactful in the way you advertise in a highly competitive social space. Similar to Christmas and Black Fridays, increased online competition means more variables shaping a very unpredictable algorithm.
- Monitor and Moderate: There are an abundance of trolls and bots just waiting to hijack, spam and exploit your content with political messaging. Scale up your community management efforts, watch the comments section and don’t let your brand become the poster child of some political shitstorm. It’s happened before, and it will happen again.
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