There was a TED talk in the past year how China has learned from the video gaming industry, creating a social network score based on social conformity to the regime. If you share their Tweets and say positive stuff about the Communist party/government/China, get points. Get a high score, you get preference for a visa to visit Hong Kong and other government papers.
The insidious side is that your friends’ scores can pull you down, so your friend posting the duck in place of tanks in the classic Tianamen Square photo hurts your ranking. You either apply social pressure to them to boost your score, which is what the government wants, or you unfriend them online, which isolates the politically correct opinions and limits their influence, which is what the government wants.
IMHO social media was CREATED specifically FOR imposing this type of social control over the masses.
It’s happening here too. Don’t doubt me.