In the fairly recent past, there was talk about the power of the media, its ability to influence everyone in society. The power to bring down governments or install governments has been attributed to the media, to me, with a lot of exaggeration.

These media were radio, television and print media. With the technological revolution, the Internet, multiple applications, and especially the so-called with social networks, the power of the media is truly greatly reduced.

But, as a counterpart, social networks and the possibility that every citizen has today to say anything, and even more so to combine it with artificial intelligence, have become elements that have produced a tool of immeasurable power.

The big difference in the power attributed to the media is that journalists, directors and owners were clearly visible. Society knew who was behind each of them.

Today, the hideous anonymity allows us to say anything, unchecked, with no one to look to, no one to hold accountable, no one to protest against.

A process could be conducted against the media, a lawsuit could be initiated. Nothing can be done against social networks, and above all against those who slander, release fake videos, use false recordings, which in the end change the course of history, without anyone finally taking responsibility for it. This is the drama of today’s society, of these postmodern times in which we apparently live. And a drama of unfathomable consequences. Known “trolls”, orchestrated campaigns to lie or discredit, are immeasurably more powerful than a story in a newspaper or on television news.

I was a columnist for this newspaper in the 80s and since my return to the country after exile. I am aware of the influence of editorials on a certain elite who read them. But on the only social network I use, which is Twitter, I had messages that reached 500 thousand people, which is impossible with traditional media.

The election campaign was a game of messages, attacks, counter-attacks, defenses, direct and indirect. Network management technicians were at the center of the campaign. These were not discussions about big topics, but the most effective use of networks.

An unprecedented, very short government will soon begin, stemming from the Constitution, but which will be almost an experiment.

If the networks are used from the beginning to surround the Government, what can be done by itself in such a short period of time will become nothing, and the national frustration will be greater.

Social networks have led humanity, especially young people, to superficiality, to the speed of arguments, not to depth, to the search for perceptions, sensations, not concepts or ideas. Breaking a button, a key, an icon, seems to be the solution to things, the answer to everything. That is very far from reality.

I hope that the networks will not start, before the start, the destructive work that can do so much damage. (OR)