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Governments around the world are pressing Big Tech to deal with people or groups who use their platforms to meddle in elections or spread lies, paranoia, bigotry and hate speech. Do you think it is possible for them to “tame the monsters they have created?”

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It all started with the invention of the printing press

9 ( +10 / -1 )

They can, but they won't. Long gone are the " "Don't be evil" (google) feel good phrases of yesteryear. Today its bottom line economics. If anyone trusts zuckerburg to exercise ethical decisions is delusional. musk has long sold his soul, assuming he had one to sell.

How fast social media giants are willing to sell out their conscious is staggering and embarrassing. Doxing dissidents, allowing censorship, everything contrary to open decent values and humanity to china and other despots in order to gain more subscribers, followers or whatever,

It is just a matter of time (if not already) before algorithms are manipulated at the whim of a whiney tech exec, cuz s/he can. I am not talking about governments. I referring to megalomaniacs like zuk, elon, and the next trillionaire yet to be born. They have no conscious. And if they get their tighty whities/panties knotted up, they will lash out like any other spoiled child when kids refuse to play with them.

12 ( +15 / -3 )

With AI don't think Big Media won't use it to promote their agenda, EG. Phonehacking. Governments will need to adapt or see themselves voted out office on merely allegations. EG. Brand. So they will be future legislation to prevent the public from not knowing or know what is their true agenda.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

yes. but its going to take a concerted effort. Can't half-a$$ it.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

The lies at elections are in the manifestos and speeches of politicians. Tech is just another media.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

When the own governments are the source of the groups abusing social media it becomes clear the problem is not going to be solved with the "pressure" they put, specially when such abuse is clearly profitable for the services.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

Do you think it is possible for them to “tame the monsters they have created?”

Algorithmic radicalization is aided by the SNS to encourage clicks and drive ad revenue.

Governments are complicit too by years of deregulation and enablement of Big tech financialization.

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/10419/9404

The 2024 US election will be one the strangest and most dangerous in history we can see already.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

If there was one good application of AI, it would be in reducing the visibility of garbage posting. Unfortunately I'm not sure that there are good ways to measure success with this, so governments will just have to keep asking and hope the situation improves.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

I bet governments are happy people use social media to "to meddle in elections or spread lies, paranoia, bigotry and hate speech". Governments must love people arguing about trans people or what is or isnt racism.

What they definitely do not want is people using social media to organize and challenge the system so that a better one with fewer grifters and built in privilege can be created. A fairer society where big banks, oil and gas companies, health insurance companies, .... all of who make vast profits and lobby politicians hard to ensure such profits are never threatened. Why should anyone pay for water that falls from the sky or for electricity that is free photons from the sun hitting a panel or a free wind driving a turbine?

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Problem is that governments are pressing Big Tech to deal with people or groups who are outing the lies of the government.

2 ( +12 / -10 )

Who decides what are lies? Just because a government says something it doesn’t make it true and if someone points out a government lie will they be branded a liar?

8 ( +11 / -3 )

Who decides what are lies?

Good question. It might be better to have school lessons where the focus in not on what is true but how to determine if something is true or not. So instead of "Coca Cola is bad for you - true or false", the question would be "Coca Cola is bad for you - how would you find out if that is true or not".

7 ( +8 / -1 )

The genii is out of the bag. Putting it back in is impossible. Tread with care, the landmines are everywhere. It's not likely to change because to diss is easier than to offer reasonable thinking.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It's not just up to the government, we the people have to be ready to point out that the idiots with their low-intelligence attempts at trying to parse the world, should be regarded as low-intelligence idiots who can't parse the world. The same way that we used to ignore Dave the Drunk who would go on about his conspiracy theories to his beer in the corner of the bar, we need to ignore the idiots who come onto the internet and blather about "alternate sources" and "alternate facts" and how the "MSM" is evil. These people clearly have zero value to society whatsoever. Total losers. And we need to make sure they know that.

The greatest thing about the internet is that it gave the little guy a voice. The worst thing about the internet is that it gave the idiots a voice.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

It's ironic that most people who bleat about their freedom of speech being infringed upon lack the intelligence to google what freedom of speech actually means.

It means being arrested for your speech. Having a post deleted, or being banned from a site, is the freedom of speech of the website. If they forced websites to post things the website didn't want to, that would be forced speech.

I find Russians on the internet seem the most clueless as to what freedom of speech is, followed by Americans. It's ironic that the countries with the most and least freedom of speech are the two with the people most clueless about what it actually is.

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

Once Pandora's box has been opened, there is no closing it. Anonymity has made executioners out of people who otherwise just might be nice. But rather than think reasonably (or think at all) people diss others like boundless numbers of vipers. And there is no going back. Anything that can be done by influencers and their minions will be done. Probably forever.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Hopefully not, as freedom of speech is generally a much higher value to defend than those complaints about virtually "meddling in, spreading lies, paranoia, bigotry and hate speech', conspiracy theories etc or somehow else you call it. You can do that in practice in your beloved autocratic regimes like China, North Korea etc if you cannot stand what other people have to say.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Any attempt to control will just feed the conspiracy theorists. These people can not be made to see the light, they will always be in the dark, but think they are enlightened!

0 ( +4 / -4 )

Even internet sites like this have plenty of users that spread lies, paranoia, bigotry and hate speech in the comments (even if clearly against the rules), if it has been impossible to control the problem here it makes no sense to expect it to be solved for much bigger platforms.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Defining what is misinformation or disinformation is quite problematic. Orwellian, in fact.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

As much as I'd like to be optimistic about society self-regulating and being rational, the crazies, manipulators, liars and thieves have found it's too easy to infest the brains of the wide swath of dumb like worms.

The greatest threat to civilization is escalating ignorance and stupidity.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Nope. The cat was out of the bag a decade ago. They leaned into the stupidity and now are regretting they can’t control it

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Unfortunately one teams ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation’ often turns out to be facts that these behind the scenes stewards of power and culture simply don't want discussed or to come to light. The pandemic has taught us that. Guys shutting down the discussion claiming to represent (and speak for!) science. Trust levels are at an all time low and for good reason.

Anyone claiming to be 100% fair and impartial , or on the side of the ‘good and just’ are the ones we have to be most careful of. Take a page out of history and see which societies played around with ‘censorship’ , or used the hammer of ‘law’ to lock up , kill or silence their political opponents and foes too. See what became of them and what horrors were committed in their name.

None of this is new. We are treading on shaky ground.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Unfortunately one teams ‘misinformation’ or ‘disinformation’ often turns out to be facts that these behind the scenes stewards of power and culture simply don't want discussed or to come to light. The pandemic has taught us that. Guys shutting down the discussion claiming to represent (and speak for!) science. Trust levels are at an all time low and for good reason.

Interesting. So your theory is that there are a bunch of conspiracies?

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Governments around the world are pressing Big Tech to deal with people or groups who use their platforms to meddle in elections or spread lies, paranoia, bigotry and hate speech.

That's called fascism.

Do you think it is possible for them to “tame the monsters they have created?”

Governments created Big Tech?

Interesting admission...

Govt. surveillance dressed up as social media.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

What?

They want people to be outraged. They want lies and controversy.

Thats the business model, for heaven’s sake.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

That's called fascism.

How? Are you sure you know what fascism is? Forcing platforms to publish speech they don't agree with would be forced speech, and THAT is fascism.

How exactly have you concluded that the platforms' exercising their right to not be forced into speech is fascism?

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Governments created Big Tech?

Interesting admission...

Well, it was an ambiguous statement as to whether the subject was government, or big tech. The context would lead a logical thinker to infer they meant big tech, but the conspiracy theorist of course will conclude it can only mean government with no other option because it's clearly a conspiracy.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Stranger, forgot mate. You must be the representative of logic. Fly your banner high man! ;)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

You must be the representative of logic.

Just a user of it.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

The governments themselves are the monsters.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Meddle in elections, spread lies, paranoia, bigotry and hate speech.

Then they would have to censor the governments and themselves.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

This is a loaded question!

It goes on the assumption that the governments know what is best and are right or working in the best interest of the people.

But we know by facts, history, reality, this has often not been the case.

This is not a conspiracy rant or anything similar, it is just reality.

Previously we have seen journalist (real ones that no longer exists), citizen whistleblowers, etc...expose corruption, false information by governments, scandals,

Opposition by citizens and investigations by independent journalist exposed things like the going ons in Vietnam, illegal bombings of Cambodia, Watergate, the disappearance of people and children in Argentina, the child abuse in residential school in Canada, the RC Church sexual abuse cover-up, the Irish children, and a long long long list of what at the time MSM and the powers incharge claimed were false/fake exaggerated, etc....

Look around and see how many old abuses were finally exposed in recent years and all because those in power couldn't control the narrative as they had in the past via MSM.

Yes there is a lot of crap out there but the cost to silence them is too high because the power to do so includes the power to silence the truth by others.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Only the insecure cannot handle the truth

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

No one should trust GOVT they are not in your favor

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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