The Dangers of Social Media Manipulation and Its Impact on Society

Social media remains deeply ingrained in daily life, acting as a communication hub, a news source, and a forum for opinions. Yet, alongside its benefits, social media also carries significant risks. One of the most pressing is manipulation - the deliberate use of platforms to distort truth, influence public behaviour, and undermine trust. In 2025, this threat is more sophisticated than ever, driven by artificial intelligence, deepfake technologies, and coordinated disinformation networks. The consequences are vast, affecting democracy, public health, economic stability, and social cohesion.

The Rise of Social Media Manipulation

Over the last decade, social media manipulation has expanded in scale and sophistication. According to Oxford Internet Institute data and other monitoring groups, coordinated manipulation campaigns were identified in over 90 countries by 2024, with further growth projected in 2025. What was once the domain of fringe groups is now a professionalised industry involving governments, consultancy firms, political lobbyists, and private contractors.

The accessibility of generative AI tools has dramatically lowered the entry barrier. Disinformation can be produced, personalised, and distributed rapidly, making manipulation campaigns harder to spot and easier to spread.

Weaponising Social Media for Political Gain

Politics remains the primary battleground. State and non-state actors use computational propaganda to influence elections, target political opponents, or destabilise rival governments.

• Examples include increasing use of AI-powered fake news websites, deepfake videos of politicians, and coordinated bot networks amplifying divisive content.
• Major elections in 2024 across Europe, India, and the United States highlighted just how influential and disruptive these tactics can be, with experts warning of even greater interference in upcoming democratic processes through 2025.

Public Health at Risk

The Covid-19 pandemic exposed the dangers of misinformation, but manipulation did not end there. In 2025, we continue to see viral disinformation around health, particularly concerning vaccines, emerging pandemics such as avian influenza strains, and lifestyle-related pseudoscience.

The World Health Organization (WHO) still refers to this as an "infodemic"- a parallel crisis in which misleading health information spreads faster than official medical advice. The consequences can undermine vaccination campaigns, fuel stigma, and compromise public safety.

Financial and Economic Threats

Disinformation also impacts the global economy. A 2024 study by Cybersecurity Ventures estimated social media manipulation to cost the global economy over $100 billion annually, up from $78 billion just a few years earlier.

Key financial impacts include:

• Stock market volatility from false reports or doctored financial disclosures
• Brand and corporate reputation management costs
• Increased spending on cyber defences and counter-disinformation measures

For businesses, one viral falsehood can cause millions in losses almost overnight.

How Manipulation Works: Common Tactics

Malicious actors employ a mixture of human input and machine automation to deceive audiences.

• Bots and Troll Farms: Automated accounts amplify narratives at scale while human trolls push harassment campaigns or false claims to silence dissent and fabricate controversy.
• Misinformation vs Disinformation: False content is sometimes shared unintentionally (misinformation), but deliberate disinformation exploits emotion with manipulated images, fabricated stories, and misleading headlines.
• Targeting Journalists and Public Figures: AI-generated deepfakes, hacked accounts, and impersonation campaigns undermine credible voices and erode trust in traditional media.
• Exploiting Algorithms: Coordinated activity (likes, comments, shares) allows content to game recommendation engines, making disinformation appear popular and legitimate.

Technology’s Double Role: A Weapon and a Defence

While digital technologies are used to fuel manipulation, they are also central to tackling it.

• AI Detection Frameworks: Advances in natural language processing, predictive analytics, and anomaly detection are helping platforms flag synthetic or suspicious activity. However, the rapid advancement of generative AI has created an “arms race” between platforms and perpetrators.
• OSINT (Open-Source Intelligence): Investigators now use more advanced analytical tools to monitor fringe platforms and cross-reference narratives across geographies, identifying manipulation campaigns earlier than before.
• Platform Transparency Measures: Some platforms, under regulatory pressure, now label AI-generated content, restrict political microtargeting, and mandate transparency reports. Yet enforcement remains inconsistent.

Building Resilience Through Awareness

While technology helps, human vigilance remains the strongest defence. Empowering individuals to question, verify, and critically assess content is the long-term solution.

• Media and Digital Literacy: Public education programmes across Europe now integrate curriculum modules on fact-checking, algorithmic bias, and recognising manipulative content.
• Cybersecurity Training: Organisations increasingly provide social engineering awareness sessions to staff, reducing susceptibility to targeted disinformation.
• Addressing Cognitive Biases: Encouraging people to recognise how personal beliefs shape their perception of news is proving crucial in fostering objective assessments of online content.

Conclusion

By 2025, social media manipulation has evolved into a systemic and global challenge. It threatens democratic elections, public health, personal freedoms, and economic stability. Combating it requires a multi-layered approach: regulatory oversight, technological safeguards, corporate accountability, and - most importantly - public awareness.

A society skilled in critical thinking, fact-checking, and digital resilience is far less vulnerable to manipulation. As malicious actors grow more sophisticated, so too must our ability to detect, disrupt, and defend against their influence.