New, troubling ways activists are using social media as a megaphone

Social media is one of the sharpest double-edged swords in modern communication. On one hand, it allows farmers and ranchers to amplify their voices and share stories, videos and photos directly with consumers across the country. On the other, animal rights activists have used social media platforms to make a few outlier voices sound like a much bigger crowd and attempt to silence anyone with opinions that don’t align with theirs.As one example, a group of determined extremists have created a Facebook page where they refer to themselves as “hunters” and select certain farmers or ag businesses to target (referred to as “missions”). Followers will flock to the selected farm pages and bombard them with one-star reviews (despite never visiting or purchasing from the business), nasty comments and aggressive messages.Activist groups will also send scripts out via email and urge supporters to copy and paste them on company Facebook pages.