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The social media dilemma
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One show that has been trending on Netflix in recent weeks and worth watching is the documentary “The Social Dilemma” by Jeff Orlowski. The 1.5-hour documentary attempts to discuss the terrifying impact of social media and its algorithms on our world, illustrating the damage that social media giants like Facebook, Google, and Twitter are doing to our society.
The documentary, which includes interviews with key former employees of tech giants, industry critics and academics, amplifies the largely ignored alarms that have been ringing for years when it comes to social media. Anyone watching the movie would be terrified and consider disconnecting from social media for at least a couple of hours.
In fairness to social media, it started out with relatively innocent intentions. It was supposed to forge better connections between humans, and if you think about it, our quarantine experience would likely be very different if it hadn’t been for the social media apps that have allowed us to stay connected with everyone from close family members. members to random strangers who sell cupcakes or potted plants while trapped at home for what has felt forever.
Of course, as with all things, money ruined everything. Once it was discovered that successful social media platforms can generate massive profits from targeted advertising, there was no going back, especially after artificial intelligence algorithms and bots were unleashed against the unsuspecting and busy human race.
A frequently used quote that appeared in the documentary read something like “If you are not paying, then you are the product.” This is something we should have realized from the beginning, but the combination of a “free” service providing unlimited tsismis was too irresistible for many of us, so we went to the end and agreed to the terms of use. and we voluntarily become the product. because we thought it was harmless fun anyway.
It was all harmless fun when advertisers sold slippers and toothpaste. The data social media apps collected on what we liked, what we read, what we stopped to see, and probably even where we were and who we were with allowed advertisers to get a better hit ratio than any other advertising medium. Successes in targeting personalized ads allowed social media companies and their advertisers to enjoy and grow the business while we had a good time. It was beneficial to everyone.
The problem began when advertisers with the most nefarious products began to exploit the largest market in human history and its unprecedented targeting technology. Instead of sneakers, they began to sell ideologies and personalities. Instead of convincing people to switch toothpaste, the new generation of advertisers used marketing tools to support authoritarian regimes or justify and normalize crimes against humanity. It wasn’t long before elections were rigged and democracies undermined through jamming operations run exclusively on social media.
What makes social media effective as a tool to misinform and sow division is that it has no concept of truth and lies, of good and bad. You can measure clicks, views, watch times, scroll speeds and cross references with background information provided voluntarily or deduced by AI, such as interests, geographic location, educational achievements or political leanings.
The advertising or engagement AI is designed and programmed to deliver content that engages the user, which means that it keeps the eye on the screen for as long as possible. You don’t care if the ad or video is factual, truthful, or morally correct. All that matters is maintaining as much user attention as possible and delivering the ads when multiplied by the incredible number of users, ultimately generating billions in revenue.
Money-generating AI can predict what will be interesting to any particular user that it has collected enough data about, but it cannot do anything about propaganda because its nature is to drive advertising, not control its flow. If any shoe company can claim to make the best sneakers for any season or occasion, so can advocates of political personalities or ideologies and even outlandish conspiracy theories claim to be on the right side of their version of truth and truth. history. The AI will deliver content as long as the user is engaged, regardless of whether it is serving garbage, especially when user tendencies indicate that they prefer garbage to truths. And based on what most of the world’s people are licking and believing these days, most of us gravitate toward junk content.
Individuals and groups who have figured out how to tinker with this system have succeeded not only in selling slippers or toothpaste, but also dividing nations, shaping public opinion and promoting election results. All because social media and its business model provided the tools that made it possible.
With most governments democratically elected due to this feat, there is little chance that governments will regulate social media to make it less “effective” in the near future. Therefore, it is up to us to regulate our use of social media and the information we consume. The need to be more conscientious and circumspect when it comes to the content that AI “recommends” to us will make social media less fun and more complicated, but if our society is to survive this attack, it is something that needs to get started. as soon as possible. *
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