The election spectacle - Digital Threat Digest

Tuesday night saw the celebration of a major political event, a commemoration of political stability and continuity: Guy Fawkes Night. The annual event sees impressive fireworks displays which end in the burning of an effigy of the man who tried to blow up parliament on 5 November 1605. Tuesday night also saw the US election take place, and I—as I’m sure many of you reading this also did— stayed up to watch it all unfold, flicking between the BBC, CNN, and even FOX news, to get the latest updates.

Election night coverage is an addictive experience full of drama, unpredictability, and excitement. Famous news anchors, political commentators, and journalists set the scene, delivering play-by-play analysis, while flashing lights, breaking news labels, and colourful live maps provide the thrilling drama and twists which keep us on the edge of our seats. Yet, like bonfire night in the local park, this immersive election night experience feels more like a simulation – a stylised, carefully crafted spectacle, which masks what is literally just the simple reporting of polling results.

French theorist Jean Baudrillard captured this idea of simulation in his 1981 book, Simulacra and Simulation. For Baudrillard, in modern society, signs and symbols facilitated by consumerism, culture, and information, have created what he calls ‘hyperreality’ – where representations and spectacles overshadow the reality they depict. Of course, I’m not saying that the election was rigged in any way, nor that it isn’t a hugely important moment in global politics, but rather that the spectacle around the election has taken on a life of its own. Discourse online and in the media feels more focused on creating a spectacle to maximise viewer engagement, to the extent that it now precedes the tangible reality: the election was just an election, and they happen in most countries across the world.

And we, as digital investigations analysts who pride ourselves on cutting through the noise, also regularly fall into this trap of hyperreality. There’s no doubt that foreign interference, election misinformation, and online radicalisation (among many other election-related digital threats) are incredibly serious and require greater attention and awareness. However, when reporting on these issues we shouldn’t make the mistake of exaggerating scale and impact for the sake of engagement. Yes, Russian networks of inauthentic domains make good headlines (and is something governments and platforms should definitely take seriously) but we've also previously discussed irresponsible disclosure and that poor journalism for the sake of engagement has led to everything being labelled as a Russian IO without actually investigating properly.

In 1605, Guy Fawkes stored 36 barrels of gunpowder in a vault in Westminster which would have completely flattened the House of Lords. However, on bonfire night most people are probably not thinking about the English reformation and the heightened persecution of Catholics that the gunpowder plot led to. Granted, that was 400 years ago. But, when we discuss and report on present day political events like elections, we should all try to do less of the show and spectacle, and instead focus on the nuances, facts, and the policies which genuinely impact people’s lives.

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