if in one hand social media can be used for bad - as we saw with Cambridge analytics and etc, in another hand without social media, the Government or the most powerful party, can as usual - in Africa and South America - with a megaphone, money, medicament and old school propaganda, manipulate the opinion and consequentially win the elections.
Let's say that without social media, you constrain who is able to manipulate the opinion to the dominant groups in the Country: The rich family that owns the favorite TV/Radio channels, the Army general supported by the riches, the man from the working classes that never worked, and so on...
Have we really seen the power return to the people because of social media? That was the theory during, e.g., The Arab Spring. But, it doesn't seem like it's held. It feels like the old guard has taken over social media and used it to their ends, putting us back where we started.
I don't think the power will return to the People, because the power never belonged to the People in the first place. But I think with social media, outsiders can get a more complete image from a social event other than the official one from the traditional media.
Let's say that without social media, you constrain who is able to manipulate the opinion to the dominant groups in the Country: The rich family that owns the favorite TV/Radio channels, the Army general supported by the riches, the man from the working classes that never worked, and so on...