Jump to content

Social media in the 2016 United States presidential election

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Bernie or Hillary)

2016 U.S. presidential election
Republican Party
Democratic Party
Third parties
Related races
← 2012 2016 2020 →

Trump–Russia relations
Business interactions
Russian election interference
Investigations and reports
People
Deception and conspiracy theories
Literature
Categories

Social media played an important role in shaping the course of events surrounding the 2016 United States presidential election, serving as a source of information for voters and a campaigning tool for candidates. The growth of social media since the previous presidential election led to changes in its use, with candidates adopted differing strategies to use the technology to their advantage. Republican nominee Donald Trump pursued a personal and informal communication style, commenting on other candidates, ongoing events, and news coverage of himself. In contrast, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton adopted a more curated approach, keeping to her party's established strategy of using social media as a platform for centralized campaign messaging.

User-generated memes and viral moments of candidates were widely spread on social media. The ability for anyone to create, comment on, and share content on social media facilitated greater voter interaction with the political climate, providing new opportunities for the fundraising and discussion of candidates.

Following the election, disclosures of personal data misuse by Facebook and political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica were reported on by The Guardian and The New York Times. In response, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress, and Facebook was fined $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations. A separate investigation into the Russian interference in the election was also conducted, concluding with an observation that Russian intelligence agencies had created fake accounts and spread misinformation on multiple social media sites in order to influence the election in favor of Trump.

Background

[edit]

Presidential elections are held every four years in the United States.[1] Candidates may choose to run for the nomination of a political party, for which they compete in primaries and caucuses before the general election.[2] Throughout the primary and general elections, candidates campaign nationally, making holding events and purchasing television and radio advertisements to try to communicate their views.[3]

Since the 2000s, presidential candidates have been increasingly focusing on campaigning online as well. Barack Obama's successful 2008 campaign is acknowledged to have been the first to take advantage of social media as a tool to reach voters.[4] He continued to use it in his 2012 re-election campaign, cultivating a much greater online presence than his opponent Mitt Romney; following Romney's defeat, the Republican National Committee accepted that the Obama campaign "had the clear edge" online.[5][6]

Social media grew significantly between 2012 and 2016.[7][8] The number of daily active Facebook users doubled globally, and the number of monthly active Twitter users worldwide doubled as well.[9][10] The growth of social media led to media commentary about its potential uses in 2016: The Wall Street Journal predicted that the use of targeted campaign advertisements using newly available data would be among the more notable innovations, and The Hill wrote that "social media's influence in [the 2016] presidential election is stronger than it has ever been," and it "will shape campaigns for years to come."[11][12]

Voters

[edit]

For voters, social media was a major source of information on the election. A January 2016 study conducted by the Pew Research Center found that 44% of respondents had learned something about the election from social media in the previous week, and that 14% of respondents found it to be the most helpful type of source for election news.[13]

The Guardian compared Internet memes to political cartoons, arguing, "For the first time in a US election cycle, community-generated memes have grown to play a significant role in political discourse, similar to the classic printed cartoon. While an Internet meme is unlikely to destroy a political career, many memes targeting a candidate might".[14]

Social media also served as an outlet for misinformation. Throughout the election, Russian government-affiliated agencies made use of multiple social media accounts and platforms to try to influence the electorate, targeting their activity against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.[15] Facebook estimated that posts and advertisements from Russian actors reached over 126 million voters—over half of Facebook's American user base.[16] 29 million people were reported to have seen the original posts, but comments, likes, and shares helped the misinformation reach a further 97 million people.[16] The impact of this misinformation on the election outcome is debated.[17][18][19]

Major party nominees

[edit]

Donald Trump campaign

[edit]
Main article: Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign
See also: Donald Trump's use of social media and Make America Great Again
Donald Trump's official White House portrait (taken 2017)

The Trump campaign made extensive use of social media platforms, notably Twitter, to reach voters. Trump had been politically active on Twitter prior to his presidential campaign, commenting on Barack Obama's presidency and spreading conspiracy theories about Obama's place of birth.[20][21] He continued to use social media to share his opinions on various topics during his campaign in a personal style, unlike his opponent Hillary Clinton, who maintained a more curated image.[22] Slate described his strategy as "retain[ing] his vulgar vigor and translated it into the political arena",[23] and the Washington Post noted his ability to "use it in a way that truly shapes — not just amplifies — his message".[24] Trump was more active on Twitter than any other presidential candidate of the election cycle, and his unique use of the site led him to be labelled "a social media master", "a virtuoso of the tweet", "genius", and is credited with having changed the role of social media in political campaigning.[23][24][25]

Unlike other candidates, Trump's Twitter and Facebook posts were often focused on engaging with the public and news media, rather than his campaign website.[26] In turn, public engagement with his posts was often much higher than with his opponents'.[25][26] After winning the election, Trump would credit social media with helping him in his victory, despite his opponents spending "much more money than [he] spent".[27] His campaign was able to leverage his social media presence to spread his message, particularly on Twitter, where his posts would often be "retweeted" among his supporters—much more frequently than for other candidates—and this virality was credited with reducing his advertising expenditures.[24][28] Trump would continued to post on Twitter during and after his presidency, excluding a 22-month period from 2021 to 2022 during which his account was suspended.[a]

Trump was also noted for his unusually frequent criticism of worse-performing primary candidates.[32][33] Before being named as the official party candidate at the 2016 Republican National Convention,[34] many of his tweets directly attacked his fellow Republican candidates when their poll numbers would rise;[24] after a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, he accused winner Ted Cruz of "stealing" victory, "lying on so many levels", and called for him to be "immediately disqualified in Iowa".[35][36] In the first Republican presidential debate, held on August 6, 2015, the moderator asked candidate Jeb Bush if he stood by a statement made the previous April that illegal entry into the U.S. by undocumented migrants is "an act of love", to which Bush replied that he did. Almost immediately thereafter, the Trump campaign posted his comment as part of a video showing mugshots of illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes in the US, intercut with footage of Bush using the phrase.[37][38][39]

Donald Trump's tweet activity from his first tweet in May 2009. His tweet activity pattern has changed from 2013.

The Trump campaign saw greater organized social media activity on from their supporters from the beginning of the election period than other campaigns.[25][40] Supporters of Donald Trump and opponents of Hillary Clinton conducted unofficial internet campaigns between June 2015 and November 2016: some users of social media, especially Reddit and 4chan, organized and participated in numerous "operations" to sway public opinion using Internet memes, Internet posts and online media.[41][42] The internet conflict that arose from this campaign has been dubbed by some as "The Great Meme War".[43]

On Reddit, r/The_Donald was a pro-Trump forum (termed a "subreddit") that consistently ranked as among the most active on the site.[44][45] Due to the highly active community and the algorithm used to dictate what content reached the "r/all" front page of the website, a significant portion of the r/all page was content from r/The_Donald.[40] In response, Reddit made changes to its algorithms on June 15 in an attempt to preserve the variety of r/all.[40][46] On July 27, 2016, Trump participated in an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on r/The_Donald, answering thirteen questions from his supporters.[47] The subreddit would later be shut down by Reddit in 2020 for repeated breaches of site policy.[48]

Hillary Clinton campaign

[edit]
Main article: Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign
Hillary Clinton in 2016

The Clinton campaign reused established social media strategies from previous Democratic Party campaigns, pursuing a more curated image on social media, in contrast to Trump's personal style.[49] While the Trump campaign frequently posted content linked to news media, Clinton's posts more often included links to her website or campaign pages, and less personal commentary, with greater emphasis on campaign messaging.[50]

Clinton occasionally deviated from her strategy of professionalism, often to provide a more informal respond to other candidates.[49] In August 2015, Jeb Bush altered one of Clinton's Twitter graphics about student debt to criticize the debt increase under the Obama administration.[51] Clinton responded by crossing out the words on Bush's altered graphic and stating "F: The grade to Florida for college affordability under Jeb Bush’s leadership." with the caption "@JebBush Fixed it for you."[51] She responded to Donald Trump's June 2016 tweet commenting on Obama's endorsement of her with a three-word tweet: "Delete your account"; it became her account's most retweeted post.[52][53]

Twitter activity of Hillary Clinton from her first tweet in June 2013 to September 2017. Her tweet activity increased in 2015.

In April 2016, Correct the Record, a pro-Clinton super PAC, announced a program called "Barrier Breakers" intended to rival the largely online volunteer efforts of Sanders and Trump supporters.[54] With $1 million in funding, Correct the Record employed paid staff described as "former reporters, bloggers, public affairs specialists, designers" to respond to negative content about Clinton.[54][55] This was interpreted as a response to perceived lower levels of enthusiasm for Clinton campaign's on social media platforms, as Trump often received greater public engagement with his activity than she did,[26] despite him having a less active audience on social media.[56]

Clinton also had multiple viral moments during her campaign. After the Democratic National Convention, she began campaigning with running mate, Tim Kaine, and stated while on the campaign trail with him, "I don't know who created Pokémon Go [...] I try to get them to have Pokémon Go to the polls".[57] Additionally, one of her videos on Snapchat, where she proclaimed that she was, "Just chillin', in Cedar Rapids", quickly became a meme on video-sharing app Vine, gaining over 17 million plays in a month.[58]

Other campaigns

[edit]

Bernie Sanders campaign

[edit]
Main article: Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign
Twitter activity of Bernie Sanders from his first tweet in May 2009. His Twitter activity increased during his presidential campaign.

Social media played a significant role in the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. The campaign adopted a strategy of fundraising online—of the $230 million raised, $216 million was raised online, with the campaign only holding nine in-person fundraisers.[59] Sanders' campaign also saw greater public engagement online than Clinton's despite her stronger position in the race, a fact that has been attributed to Sanders' popularity among younger demographics.[26][60][61]

Supporters of Sanders' campaign engaged in multiple organized online activities during the election. In March 2016, a group of Sanders supporters succeeded in closing down a planned Trump rally in Chicago, organizing their efforts through Facebook.[62] As of May 2016, 450,000 people belonged to the Facebook group Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash, a page primarily devoted to praising Sanders whilst pointing out flaws in rival candidates Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Hillary Clinton in comical ways.[63] Sanders was also the subject of multiple memes, including "Bernie or Hillary?", a meme in which Internet users who favored Sanders over Clinton compared the two candidates in faux political posters, with Sanders being portrayed as over-enthusiastic and Clinton being shown as more clueless.[64]

Sanders' campaign was able to convert certain viral moments into fundraising opportunities. In one instance, a bird landed on a podium while Sanders was speaking, with footage of the bird going viral; in response, the campaign used the event in fundraising advertisements, raising over $3.6 million in the days following.[59]

Jeb Bush campaign

[edit]
Main article: Jeb Bush 2016 presidential campaign

Jeb Bush announced he was exploring a presidential run through a Facebook post in December 2014, and his formal campaign launch was posted on Snapchat, in an attempt to gain the attention of younger voters.[65][66] The Bush campaign suffered from low social media engagement overall, with Bush's tweets seldom surpassing 100 retweets; however, he was the subject of some viral moments. In once instance, Bush posted a picture of a handgun with the caption "America" on Twitter, which garnered over 40,000 retweets. He was widely ridiculed for the post, with criticism focusing of the rate of gun violence in the United States.[67][68]

After it was reported that Hillary Clinton used a private email server for government matters during her tenure as Secretary of State, Bush published tens of thousands of his own emails and used Twitter to pressure Clinton to do the same.[69] Separately, in August 2015, he tweeted a graphic from the Clinton campaign which was edited to highlight the recent increases in student debt under the Obama administration.[51] Clinton would later respond by editing Bush's version to criticize Florida's college affordability under his tenure as governor.[51]

Ted Cruz campaign

[edit]
Main articles: Ted Cruz 2016 presidential campaign and Ted Cruz–Zodiac Killer meme
Twitter activity of Ted Cruz

According to The Guardian, Ted Cruz was "skewered by social media memes".[70] His run for the presidency was affected by a series of viral moments, including a video of a failed attempt to shake hands with his running mate Carly Fiorina, and a mock-conspiracy theory asserting that Cruz was the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified serial killer active in northern California from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, largely before Cruz was even born.[70][71] While the proponents of the meme generally did not think Cruz was the Zodiac Killer, in the lead up to the primary elections a Public Policy Polling poll of Florida Republican voters showed that 38% of respondents were either unsure or believed that Cruz was the killer.[72] Cruz himself would later jokingly allude to the meme, replying "uh oh" to a December 2020 tweet announcing that a cypher left by the killer had been cracked.[73]

Post-election investigations

[edit]

After the elections, two separate investigations were opened into social media-related activities: one into the misuse of personal data by political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, and another into Russian attempts to influence voters online.[74][75]

Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal

[edit]
Main article: Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal

In March 2018, former Cambridge Analytica employee Christopher Wylie revealed to the press that during the 2016 election, the company harvested the personal information of Facebook users without their consent, in breach of the platform's data policies.[76] Facebook estimated the initial number of users affected to be 50 million, a figure that was later revised to a "maximum" of 87 million.[77] Only approximately 270,000 of the affected had consented to having their data accessed, which was done through an app originally developed for academia.[77] The information collected was subsequently used to build data profiles on users, which were then used for targeted political advertising by the Donald Trump and Ted Cruz campaigns.[77][78][79]

The scandal eventually resulted in Christopher Wylie and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifying in front of the United States Congress, the liquidation of Cambridge Analytica, and a $5 billion fine for Facebook.[80][81][82] It also provoked a wider global debate about the ethics surrounding data harvesting and privacy, especially in political contexts.[83][84] In April 2018, Facebook announced new data privacy policy, with greater emphasis on user consent and preventing data misuse.[85]

Investigation into Russian interference in the election

[edit]
Main article: Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections

Throughout the 2016 election, the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a Russian online propaganda company with links to Vladimir Putin, attempted to influence the electoral outcome in favor of Donald Trump by creating large numbers of social media accounts to like, share and repost positive information on Trump and negative information on Clinton.[86] Efforts were particularly directed at influencing black voters, in attempt to incite racial division and sow conflict.[87] Social media propaganda was one of multiple methods employed by the IRA to influence the election.[88]

In May 2017, a Special Counsel investigation was conducted by Robert Mueller, which ultimately concluded in its final report that the Russian government's activities on social media "violat[ed] U.S. criminal laws in order to interfere with U.S. elections and political processes."[89]

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Trump's personal Twitter account was suspended from January 9, 2021 "due to the risk of further incitement of violence" in the wake of the January 6 United States Capitol attack.[29][30] Following the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk, his account was reinstated on November 20, 2022.[31]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Overview of the presidential election process". USA.gov. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  2. ^ "Presidential primaries and caucuses". USA.gov. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  3. ^ "Presidential Elections and Voting in U.S. History". Library of Congress. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  4. ^ Carr, David (November 10, 2008). "How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks' Power". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  5. ^ "How the Presidential Candidates Use the Web and Social Media". Pew Research Center. August 15, 2012. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  6. ^ Pilkington, Ed (March 20, 2013). "Obama's 2012 digital strategy left us in the dust, Republicans admit". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  7. ^ Newman, Nic (May 27, 2016). "Overview and Key Findings of the 2016 Report". Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  8. ^ Ortiz-Ospina, Esteban (September 18, 2019). "The rise of social media". Our World in Data.
  9. ^ "X/Twitter MAU worldwide 2019". Statista. Archived from the original on February 13, 2025. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  10. ^ "Facebook: global daily active users 2023". Statista. Archived from the original on January 25, 2025. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  11. ^ Andrews, Natalie (August 5, 2015). "Candidates Poised to Spread Their Message Through Social Media Ads". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
  12. ^ Lang, Marissa (April 5, 2016). "2016 Presidential Election Circus: Is Social Media the Cause?". The Hill. Archived from the original on May 10, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  13. ^ "Where Americans Are Getting News About the 2016 Presidential Election". Pew Research Center. February 4, 2016. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  14. ^ Alexander, Leigh (May 4, 2016). "Blame it on the Zodiac killer: did social media ruin Ted Cruz's campaign?". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 16, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  15. ^ Abrams, Abigail (April 18, 2019). "Here's What We Know So Far About Russia's 2016 Meddling". TIME. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  16. ^ a b Newton, Casey (October 30, 2017). "Russia's election posts reached 126 million people, Facebook will tell Congress". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
  17. ^ Blake, Aaron (April 3, 2018). "A new study suggests fake news might have won Donald Trump the 2016 election". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  18. ^ Parkinson, Hannah Jane (November 14, 2016). "Click and elect: how fake news helped Donald Trump win a real election". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  19. ^ Fujiwara, Thomas; Schwarz, Carlo; Müller, Karsten (October 30, 2020). "How Twitter affected the 2016 presidential election". Centre for Economic Policy Research. Retrieved February 16, 2025.
  20. ^ Zurcher, Anthony (September 16, 2016). "The birth of the Obama 'birther' conspiracy". BBC News. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  21. ^ "Donald Trump: In his own colourful words". BBC News. July 22, 2015. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  22. ^ Johnson, Shontavia (November 10, 2016). "Donald Trump tweeted himself into the White House". The Conversation. Retrieved January 26, 2025.
  23. ^ a b Hess, Amanda (February 18, 2016). "How Trump Wins Twitter". Slate. Archived from the original on December 13, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  24. ^ a b c d Phillips, Amber (December 10, 2015). "The surprising genius of Donald Trump's Twitter account". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  25. ^ a b c Barbaro, Michael (October 5, 2015). "Pithy, Mean and Powerful: How Donald Trump Mastered Twitter for 2016". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  26. ^ a b c d "2016 presidential candidates differ in their use of social media to connect with the public". Pew Research Center. July 18, 2016. Archived from the original on October 22, 2019. Retrieved November 21, 2019.
  27. ^ Morin, Rebecca (November 12, 2016). "Trump says social media was key to victory". Politico. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved December 17, 2016.
  28. ^ Naughton, John (April 3, 2016). "Why social media is the real Trump card in the US election". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved January 29, 2025.
  29. ^ "Twitter 'permanently suspends' Trump's account". BBC News. January 9, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  30. ^ "Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump". blog.twitter.com. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  31. ^ "Musk lifts Donald Trump's Twitter ban". BBC News. November 20, 2022. Retrieved January 27, 2025.|name=trump-twitter-suspension}}
  32. ^ Johnson, Kaylee; Gross, Justin (October 27, 2016). "On Twitter, Trump "punches down" far more than any of his rivals". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  33. ^ Quealy, Kevin; Lee, Jasmine C. (February 5, 2016). "The Week in Donald Trump's Twitter Insults". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  34. ^ "Full text: Donald Trump's 2016 Republican National Convention Speech". ABC News. July 22, 2016. Archived from the original on December 12, 2016. Retrieved December 6, 2016.
  35. ^ Quealy, Kevin; Lee, Jasmine C. (February 5, 2016). "The Week in Donald Trump's Twitter Insults". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  36. ^ Gass, Nick (February 3, 2016). "Trump accuses Cruz of 'fraud,' calls for new Iowa election". Politico. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  37. ^ Fehrnstrom, Eric (February 10, 2016). "A punch-drunk Jeb Bush carries on". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 22, 2016. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  38. ^ Richardson, Bradford (August 31, 2015). "Trump rips Bush over 'act of love' remarks on illegal immigration". The Hill. Archived from the original on February 20, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  39. ^ Warren, Michael (August 31, 2015). "Trump Hits Jeb on 'Act of Love'". The Weekly Standard. Archived from the original on February 25, 2016. Retrieved February 24, 2016.
  40. ^ a b c Ohlheiser, Abby (June 17, 2016). "Trump's meme brigade took over Reddit. Now Reddit is trying to stop them". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 27, 2025.
  41. ^ ""Daddy, what did you do in 'The Great Meme War'?" Dank memes become part of history". The Daily Pakistan. November 12, 2016. Archived from the original on November 21, 2020. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  42. ^ "Pizzagate: How a 4Chan conspiracy went mainstream". The New Statesman. December 8, 2016. Archived from the original on December 20, 2016. Retrieved January 9, 2017.
  43. ^ Dafaure, Maxime (April 1, 2020). "The "Great Meme War:" the Alt-Right and its Multifarious Enemies". Angles. 2020 (10) – via OpenEdition.
  44. ^ Jackson, Jasper (November 22, 2016). "Moderators of pro-Trump Reddit group linked to fake news crackdown on posts". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 25, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  45. ^ Herrman, John (April 8, 2016). "Donald Trump Finds Support in Reddit's Unruly Corners". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  46. ^ Koebler, Jason (July 12, 2016). "How r/the_donald Became a Melting Pot of Frustration and Hate". VICE News. Archived from the original on November 15, 2016. Retrieved August 10, 2016.
  47. ^ Dicker, Rachel (July 27, 2016). "People Got to Ask Donald Trump Anything – Sort of". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  48. ^ Newton, Casey (June 29, 2020). "Reddit bans r/The_Donald and r/ChapoTrapHouse as part of a major expansion of its rules". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 10, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  49. ^ a b Enli, Gunn (February 1, 2017). "Twitter as arena for the authentic outsider: exploring the social media campaigns of Trump and Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election". European Journal of Communication. 32 (1): 50–61. doi:10.1177/0267323116682802. hdl:10852/55266. ISSN 0267-3231.
  50. ^ Mitchell, Holcomb, Weisel (July 18, 2016). "Election 2016: Campaigns as a Direct Source of News" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 2, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  51. ^ a b c d Harvey, Kerric (November 8, 2016). "Did Social Media Ruin Election 2016?". NPR. Archived from the original on April 11, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
  52. ^ Lang, Cady (June 9, 2016). "Hillary Clinton Tweets 'Delete Your Account' to Donald Trump". TIME. Archived from the original on June 9, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  53. ^ Victor, Daniel (June 9, 2016). "Hillary Clinton to Donald Trump: 'Delete Your Account'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 13, 2016. Retrieved June 9, 2016.
  54. ^ a b Hampson, Rick (May 12, 2016). "Hillary Clinton, no fan of 'Bernie Bros,' could use their energy vs. Trump". USA Today. Archived from the original on May 18, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  55. ^ Foran, Clare (May 31, 2016). "A $1 Million Fight Against Hillary Clinton's Online Trolls". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 30, 2025.
  56. ^ Boxell, Levi; Gentzkow, Matthew; Shapiro, Jesse M. (July 18, 2018). "A note on internet use and the 2016 U.S. presidential election outcome". PLoS ONE. 13 (7): e0199571. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1399571B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0199571. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 6051565. PMID 30020953.
  57. ^ Darcy, Oliver. "Hillary Clinton just made a 'Pokémon Go' reference on the campaign trail". Business Insider. Retrieved January 31, 2025.
  58. ^ Rogers, Kaleigh (August 14, 2015). "Hillary Clinton Accidentally Became a Vine Meme". Vice. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  59. ^ a b Corasaniti, Nick (June 24, 2016). "Bernie Sanders Campaign Showed How to Turn Viral Moments Into Money". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  60. ^ "Bernie Sanders, the 'sexy' Democrat with friends on Tinder". BBC News. February 5, 2016. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  61. ^ Turkel, Dan. "This stat shows how big Bernie Sanders is on Reddit". Business Insider. Retrieved February 4, 2025.
  62. ^ Seitz-Wald, Alex (March 12, 2016). "How Bernie Sanders Supporters Shut Down Donald Trump's Rally in Chicago". MSNBC. Archived from the original on March 18, 2019. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  63. ^ Dewey, Caitlin (February 23, 2016). "How Bernie Sanders became the lord of 'dank memes'". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  64. ^ Fussell, Sidney (June 1, 2016). "Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debate Pokémon and Radiohead in this hilarious meme". Business Insider. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  65. ^ Dáte, S. V. (December 16, 2014). "With Facebook Post, Jeb Bush Takes A Big Step Toward 2016". NPR. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  66. ^ Frizell, Sam (June 15, 2015). "Jeb Bush's Campaign Launch to be Featured on Snapchat". TIME. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  67. ^ "Jeb Bush Gun Photo Sparks Twitter Storm". Sky News. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  68. ^ "Jeb Bush's gun tweet backfires". BBC News. February 17, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  69. ^ Gambino, Lauren (March 3, 2015). "Jeb Bush calls on likely 2016 rival Hillary Clinton to publish her official emails". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  70. ^ a b Alexander, Leigh (April 16, 2016). "Blame it on the Zodiac killer: did social media ruin Ted Cruz's campaign?". The Guardian. Retrieved March 23, 2021.
  71. ^ Sanders, Sam (February 26, 2016). "#MemeOfTheWeek: Ted Cruz And The Zodiac Killer". NPR. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  72. ^ Stuart, Tessa (February 26, 2016). "Is Ted Cruz the Zodiac Killer? Maybe, Say Florida Voters". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 13, 2025.
  73. ^ Ted, Cruz [@tedcruz] (December 11, 2020). "uh oh" (Tweet). Retrieved February 13, 2025 – via Twitter.
  74. ^ Abrams, Abigail (April 18, 2019). "Here's What We Know So Far About Russia's 2016 Meddling". TIME. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  75. ^ Romm, Tony; Timberg, Craig. "FTC opens investigation into Facebook after Cambridge Analytica scrapes millions of users' personal information". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  76. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew; Confessore, Nicholas; Cadwalladr, Carole (March 17, 2018). "How Trump Consultants Exploited the Facebook Data of Millions". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  77. ^ a b c Kang, Cecilia; Frenkel, Sheera (April 4, 2018). "Facebook Says Cambridge Analytica Harvested Data of Up to 87 Million Users". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  78. ^ Sheingate, Adam (February 22, 2016). "Jeb Bush's presidential campaign was a success for its consultants". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  79. ^ Davies, Harry (December 11, 2015). "Ted Cruz using firm that harvested data on millions of unwitting Facebook users". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  80. ^ Wong, Julia Carrie (July 12, 2019). "Facebook to be fined $5bn for Cambridge Analytica privacy violations – reports". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on November 2, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  81. ^ Romm, Tony; Dwoskin, Elizabeth. "Facebook is slapped with first fine for Cambridge Analytica scandal". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  82. ^ Solon, Olivia; Graham-Harrison, Emma (May 3, 2018). "The six weeks that brought Cambridge Analytica down". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  83. ^ Lapowski, Issie (March 17, 2019). "How Cambridge Analytica Sparked the Great Privacy Awakening". WIRED.
  84. ^ Confessore, Nicholas (April 4, 2018). "Cambridge Analytica and Facebook: The Scandal and the Fallout So Far (Published 2018)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 11, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  85. ^ Stewart, Emily (April 18, 2018). "What you need to know about Facebook's new privacy settings". Vox Media. Retrieved April 5, 2021.
  86. ^ MacFarquhar, Neil (February 18, 2018). "Inside the Russian Troll Factory: Zombies and a Breakneck Pace (Published 2018)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on October 18, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  87. ^ Shane, Scott; Frenkel, Sheera (December 17, 2018). "Russian 2016 Influence Operation Targeted African-Americans on Social Media". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 12, 2025.
  88. ^ Nakashima, Ellen (July 17, 2018). "How the Russians hacked the DNC and passed its emails to WikiLeaks". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on October 17, 2020.
  89. ^ Mueller, III, Robert (March 2019). "Report On The Investigation Into Russian Interference In The 2016 Presidential Election" (PDF). Department of Justice (United States). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 7, 2020.

Further reading

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_media_in_the_2016_United_States_presidential_election&oldid=1276822853#Bernie_or_Hillary"