The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
Research shows that misinformation spreads six times faster than truth on social media platforms, with the worst offenders being YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.
Sometimes these falsehoods are just something to roll your eyes over, but sometimes, not so much. For instance, in June, a group of Leitchfield, Kentucky residents waited, some armed, to protect their community from busloads of antifa members.
Antifa never arrived, but the Leitchfield residents were convinced it would happen because posts of Facebook said it would.
This is just one tiny example of social media spreading misinformation, and how the sites’ algorithms highlight the loudest voices in the room, even when those voices are lying.
It’s also why you should go watch the documentary “The Social Dilemma” as soon as you make some popcorn.
The movie features interviews with people who have “conscientiously defected” from Silicon Valley, including the co-inventor of the Facebook like button, the president of Pinterest and numerous engineers from Google, Twitter and Instagram.
Their primary message? Addiction to social media and privacy breaches on the platforms aren’t glitches, but rather, designed-in features. Ditto for manipulation of users.
For instance, you know how Google offers suggestions for searches you type into that friendly search bar? Well, turns out, the suggestions differ depending on the part of the country you live in.
This would be no big deal if you’re just looking for a new pair of sneakers or, my lifelong desire, a pony.
But if a Californian types in “Climate change is…”, the search engine’s predictive analytics will offer suggestions such as “real” to complete the search. The same words typed in by someone in rural America will result in sentence completers such as “a hoax.”
And that, dear readers, is just the tip of the iceberg. You know how social media is still free, how we’ve never had to pay for that product? That’s because we’re the product being sold.
The interviews are juxtaposed with a dramatization of a small-town-America family addicted to their phones. These scenes should make every parent run to confiscate their child’s phone. (Fun fact: Most of the tech geeks working so hard to addict you and your progeny to their platform forbid their kids phones before 9th grade, and many prohibit them until age 16. Makes you wonder, don’t it?)
I can feel your hands getting sweaty from way over in my socially distanced office as you think about living without social media. But take a deep breath and meet Tucsonan Brian Catts. Catts is a mid-60s retired geographer and — wait for it — he’s never had a Facebook account. More importantly, he’s survived just fine.
“At first it was because I thought it ridiculous that anyone would have the hubris to think anyone else would care to read a monologue of your life,” Catts said, explaining his early decision on Facebook.
“But then, the business model became apparent — selling users’ data — and it turned into a privacy issue,” he continued. “Now, of course, I’m looking at the nefarious aspect of the algorithm. It’s obvious when I speak with friends who use Facebook. We’ll be having a discussion, and their comments don’t reflect a broader factual perspective. Social media targets people with information they already believe and purposefully keeps those people isolated from a broader set of facts.”
This “information silo” affect happens on both sides of the aisle and — according to those interviewed in the movie — plays a huge part in the polarization happening in our country.
“If I had my druthers, I’d see Facebook flipped off tomorrow,” Catts said, not knowing — because he hasn’t seen the movie — that he was echoing many of the tech defectors’ sentiments. “If one is talking about the difficult measures needed to produce critical changes necessary to save our democracy, ending Facebook would be one. But I don’t think that’s going to happen, so the bare minimum is establishing oversight boards with an ethical component.”
“The Social Dilemma” conscientious defectors emphasized that we can’t trust tech to regulate itself. There’s too much money involved, too much temptation to control just one more person and, thus, increase profits. They insist government regulation is needed ASAP, because we’re looking at real-time destabilization of certain countries’ democracies through third-party, governmental actors. (Russia in 2016 anyone? China right now?)
So, if you have been looking around lately and thinking the world is truly, finally, forever falling apart, just know you’re not losing your mind. This mess has been brought to us, in a large part, by the computer in your pocket.
“The Social Dilemma” ends with practical advice to help us gain control of our personal technology, so it isn’t all doom and gloom. But it is enough doom and gloom to send a creepy-crawly feeling up the back of our collective neck. Let’s hope that feeling drives us to demand serious regulation and develop long-overdue technology discipline.
