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“...the organization with the most influence over what Americans believe, including about Donald Trump, is Facebook”
Sharp, somewhat unsettling, and must-read analysis from @WillOremus in today’s newsletter https://link.medium.com/bO69RudOdbb
Sharp, somewhat unsettling, and must-read analysis from @WillOremus in today’s newsletter https://link.medium.com/bO69RudOdbb
I think people exaggerate certain aspects of FB's potential dangers—misinfo, for example, occurs to me more as an issue of education and media literacy, rather than a problem that can be wholly solved by algorithm tweaks (which is not to say FB should not do what it can, obv)...
...but, no one could dispute that existential threats to our shared discourse now include hyper polarization and rigid tribalism, both of which I do believe are significantly exacerbated by the nature of Facebook's News Feed and network effects
In my view, this has been apparent for years—at least since the lead up to the 2016 election—and for all of its product tweaks and algorithm updates, Facebook has basically kept the News Feed the same. The core product is the issue, imo. And so... here we are again.
But you can't expect a company—particularly one that, rightly or wrongly, also believes in the *ideal* of its product—to dismantle or remake a product that is as efficient at making money as Facebook's News Feed is. So, the issues here are arguably beyond FB: They're systemic.
Will writes that social media companies "will never be able to roll back the realization that they are capable of taking responsibility when they want to." This is true and again, I do think iterative moderation actions can make a difference. Like, deplatforming Infowars worked.
But... I do think they will only ever be iterative. For seismic change, the fundamental nature of the platform needs to be altered. Could happen via a product update, could happen if large numbers of people leave. Maybe it doesn't *need* to happen, depending on your view!
Interesting to think about in any case. thank you for attending my TED talk etc read Will's newsletter!
