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Social media makes young people accidental election influencers


Meet the young people, some not old enough to vote, thrust into the spotlight of the election debate.

Thomas, 30, from Lancashire, told me he had responded to the prominence of Reform UK content by uploading “a fair amount of old clips of Farage speaking in the EU, as it attracts views” even though they do not reflect his own opinions. One posted a doctored image falsely suggesting Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer wore a white T-shirt with the Palestinian flag to watch an England match in Euro 2024, calling him a traitor and provoking abusive comments. Other accidental influencer profiles have used graphics of real polls to make misleading predictions about the election outcome - and some have posted incorrect claims about the positions of different political parties on issues such as immigration and Brexit.

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