The guide says expression serves many functions, including storytelling. Five are worth knowing, and the useful part is that digital systems changed each one differently.
Five functions of expression, and what digital systems did to each.
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A poster says the same thing to everyone who passes it, so anyone can see what is being claimed. A targeted message says something different to each person, and nobody else can check it.
What targeting changes
- Effectiveness — a message written for one person's concerns is more persuasive than one written for everyone.
- Accountability — nobody can fact-check an advert only you were shown.
- Evidence — researchers and regulators cannot see what was said unless someone reports it.
- Deniability — contradictory messages can be sent to different groups at the same time.
Real-world examples you can name
Facebook and Cambridge Analytica — disclosed March 2018; US FTC penalty July 2019
A personality-quiz app collected data not only from the people who installed it but from their friends, reaching tens of millions of profiles, which were then used to target political advertising. Facebook was fined US$5 billion by the FTC over its privacy practices.
Who it affected: Facebook users who never installed the app, and voters targeted by the campaigns.
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| Function | What got easier | What got harder |
|---|---|---|
| Protest | Organising quickly, at no cost | Organising unseen — the same tools record it |
| Art | Distribution is free to everyone | Being noticed; attention is the scarce thing now |
| Storytelling | Anyone may publish without being chosen | Being believed, when anyone may publish |
| Identity | Finding others like you | Stopping — the performance is continuous |
Real-world examples you can name
#BookTok and algorithmic taste — from 2020
A community of readers posting short book videos whose recommendations, amplified by TikTok's ranking, put backlist titles onto bestseller lists years after publication and changed how publishers market fiction.
Who it affected: Readers, authors and booksellers — an industry reshaped by a recommender.
Government internet shutdowns — tracked annually by Access Now since 2016
States order operators to suspend mobile data or the whole internet, usually during protests, elections or exams. India has recorded the most shutdowns of any country for several consecutive years.
Who it affected: Everyone in the affected region — including businesses, hospitals and students.
How this is tested — you have to say what the expression in a scenario is FOR, and what the medium did to that purpose. It comes up two ways:
Paper 1 — structured question
- Part b: explain why a group expresses itself in a described way
- Part c: evaluate the effect of a platform on a kind of expression
Paper 2 — source-based question
- Q2: explain the purpose of a source
- Q4: synthesise sources on expression and reach
The trap: describing the platform: Name the function — storytelling, persuasion, protest, art, identity — and what changed about it. A description of the app is not an answer about expression.
Explain one reason why targeted political advertising is harder to hold to account than a poster.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Discuss the effect of digital platforms on political expression.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.