Reddit Twitter Anon Accounts

However, social media also provided an avenue for the rise of anonymous accounts. Mostly seen on Reddit and Twitter, these accounts often spread or reveal negative things about a candidate. These “negative things” are often in the form of leaks (e.g., a candidate apparently having plans of leaving their local political party to run under a university-wide political party, another candidate attending an official school event drunk, while being the head of the event on top of that); and discussion threads to further amplify the dialogue and discussion (e.g., if the independent councilor candidates were really independent, na kesyo hugas kamay lang daw ang ginawa ng mga kandidatong kumalas sa STAND UP).

Now, the question that poses us is what we should label these anonymous accounts? Dahil ba anonymous sila ay matatawag natin silang online political trolls? They do employ negative campaigning tactics because it is evident in their posts that they have the intention to tarnish a candidate’s reputation, or at least change the prevailing idea about the said candidate. These are also circulated online, mostly Reddit and Twitter. And ultimately, hindi rin naman imposible that a number of these accounts ay ginawa primarily as “black propaganda” and not really to promote public engagement and participation. And although wala naman akong natanggap na “black prop” directed to me ay sinabihan pa rin ako not to engage with these. “Do not feed the trolls,” ika nga.

Can they be characterized by “deception, provocation, and futile conversation,” as stated by Cabañes and Cornelio (2017)? They may provoke concerned students, but for the some parts, hindi naman disinformation ang nilalabas ng mga accounts na ito; rather, ang mga ito ay personal sentiments and if leaks, mga resibo. At hindi rin naman futile ang pakikipag-engage dito; in fact, ay mas lumalawak pa ang dialogue.