POLITICAL DISINFORMATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA POSTED BY THE POLITICAL LEADERS OF GILGIT BALTISTAN: AN ANALYSIS OF POLITICAL DISCOURSE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Abstract

In today's world, social media serves as a crucial and influential platform for the dissemination of information, with its benefits evident across various sectors of life. This study aims to investigate the role of social media in spreading political disinformation, which poses a threat to democracy and disrupts the balance between civil and military power. A qualitative and quantitative mixed approach was employed. To carry out the study 5 closed ended and 5 opened ended questions were designed. The data was collected from the BS level students of Gilgit Baltistan who are studying in various universities of Rawalpindi, Islamabad. Through critical analysis of the collected data, the researcher drew conclusions revealing that disinformation spread by political leaders on social media weakens democracy and undermines the civil-military balance. The study suggests that social media platforms should invest in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools to detect and flag false information early. Additionally, companies should enforce stricter rules regarding political disinformation, including suspending or banning accounts that repeatedly disseminate false information. Transparency in enforcing these actions is key to building public trust.