A social media reset of politics

In the wake of Fidias and Alexui, are influencers rewriting the political agenda?

In the Cypriot space, have social media influencers come into their own, setting the agenda for political discourse? Yes and no, say experts we spoke to. But there’s no doubt they’re having an impact on what gets talked about, and on real-world events as well. Meantime the political world scrambles to keep up.

The ‘Videogate’ affair – alleging pay-to-play at the presidential palace – went viral in hours and resulted in the resignation of the president’s chief of staff and an investigation into a former minister appearing in the clip.

Then the reveals by social media personality Ioanna Photiou, who goes by the handle ‘Annie Alexui’, triggered a police investigation into Paphos mayor Phedonas Phedonos. The mayor has been suspended from his duties as authorities look into claims that he physically assaulted his wife years ago.

In both cases nothing was substantiated before the hammer dropped. Mere accusation or suspicion landed politicians in real trouble, not just mired in gossip.

And in both cases social media was the medium.

According to one expert, it taps into something almost primeval: people take delight in seeing others – especially politicians – get ridiculed or smeared.

“Look, social media is easily accessible, very convenient – you just need a mobile phone,” said Dr Evie Lambrou, associate professor at Frederick University’s journalism and media programme.

Because social media platforms are driven by algorithms, the more provocative a content creator is, the greater the visibility. The algorithm promotes outrageous or controversial content. After all, social media is a business and wants as many eyeballs as possible.

“On social media, on the user side one has an imaginary circle of friendship. There is also anonymity and invisibility.

“And on the content creator side, there are virtually no rules or constraints. Plus, anyone can post. Whereas in traditional media you’ve got all kinds of constraints – a code of ethics, embargoes on the timing of a release of a story, off-the-record-comments, disclaimers and so forth.”

In an age where speed matters, the one who gets first dibs on a story gets the glory. The tradeoff, of course, is accuracy.

At the same time, said Lambrou, traditional journalism is in decline. Television is the latest ‘victim’ of social media – it no longer has an impact or influence on young people, they don’t get their news on TV.

Ironically, the traditional media often augments the situation by reproducing what social media influencers say.

“On social media, in order to stay relevant content creators have to be outrageous, and have to post constantly. Some are very good at it.”

As far as Cypriot politicians go, they lag behind in terms of tapping into this world.

The professor notes there has been an increase in podcasts in Cyprus.

They’re very easy to produce for the content creator, and just as easy for someone to come on as a guest or talking head.

“Whereas back in the day, you had to have connections with someone at, say, CyBC, in order to get on television.”

But although podcasts are catching on in the Cypriot scene, the expert does not think they’ll replace the radio anytime soon – but will definitely rival it.

Asked if social media personalities are driving the discussion, Lambrou does not think so.

“Not yet – chiefly because use they only focus on one or two subjects at any given time, whereas the mainstream media cover a wide gamut of news.

“But stay tuned…we may witness the impact of social media in the upcoming parliamentary elections. In about a month’s time we’ll start to see whether, for example, many politicians get hosted on podcasts. And the podcast format appeals mostly to the under-50 crowd.”

On the persona who goes by ‘Annie Alexui’, the expert says she’s been ‘following’ her online for quite some time.

“I find her interesting. She seems educated and highly intelligent. It’s not that what she presents is groundbreaking – corruption and so forth. It’s more like that her claims corroborate what a lot of people already suspect. She is also consistent, and acts as a sort of gadfly to the establishment.”

‘Alexui’ is indeed an intriguing character. She claims to hold a degree in psychology from City University in London.

Now living in Russia, where she says she was granted political asylum, the woman is wanted on at least 13 international arrest warrants issued by Cypriot authorities – relating to personal data violations, circulating fake news and harassment.

And yet, ironically enough, it was her own allegations that led to the investigation into the Paphos mayor.

As to the damaging information she possesses, she claims to have gained it from a variety of sources, admitting that she had peripheral links to Cypriot mobsters. For example, she freely says she had a relationship with now-deceased gangland figure Alexis Mavromichalis.

The self-styled ‘detective’ claims that while operating a betting shop in Limassol years ago, she used to record conversations with shady figures. In a recent interview with Politis, she even claimed she has two terabytes of data from audio recordings alone.

Meantime rumours swirl – mostly on Reddit threads – that her father is an ex-cop. Other users however maintain he was a teacher.

If the rumours about her father being a police officer are true, that would make her a person straddling both worlds – law enforcement and the gangland community.

“She certainly is interesting,” weighed in Christoforos Christoforou, a political and elections analyst.

The irony, he told us, is that the trigger for her popularity came after the police announced she was a wanted person.

“Prior to that, she was fairly well-known on social media. But her popularity really exploded after the announcement of the warrants against her. That’s what catapulted her status.”

But Christoforou also acknowledges that ‘Alexui’ gets a great deal of attention because she produces purported documentation backing up her claims. It gives an air of plausibility to her assertions.

“So do social media influencers set the agenda? It’s not a yes or no question. There are certain prerequisites that must be met,” Christoforou offered.

“In the case of ‘Annie Alexui’ and MEP Fidias Panayiotou you might say they sometimes do set the agenda, at specific times and under specific circumstances.”

On Panayiotou, who pitches himself as a political disruptor, Christoforou had a partcular take.

The analyst told us he knows that someone prompted the young influencer to run for MEP.

“I can tell you that I know which person put that idea in his head. Essentially this other person wanted more people to get registered to vote. So in the beginning, Panayiotou would talk specifically about that – urging young people to get registered. It was only later that his message shifted to ‘fighting the party-political system’.”

At any rate, Panayiotou’s message does resonate with young people.

“In my view,” Christoforou went on, “people lap up what individuals like Panayiotou put out there, because they’re easily impressed and because what’s on offer is sensational and doesn’t require much critical thinking.”

Coming back, Dr Lambrou said:

“With social media, there’s the element of instant gratification. People get hooked. The more they scroll through their device, the more of a dopamine hit they get.”

There was a time, she recalled, when someone watching a television series had to wait a week to catch the next episode.

“Now, that patience is gone – you can just binge-watch on Netflix. Everything is fast, immediate.”

Still, she does not think of social media as ‘bad’ or ‘good’ – that would be a wrong way to frame it.

“We’ve got to stop being afraid of social media and learn how to use it as a tool. We need to demystify it, and teach people media literacy and discernment skills. You can use it in good ways or bad.”