Big platforms optimize for engagement because it works financially, but society ends up paying the externalities. That incentive mismatch is the real problem.
Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
141–150 of 512 posts
Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#142Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#143Remember when they told us that social media would "spread democracy" ?
No, I don’t. I remember when the internet would (it did!) and Usenet would (it did!) and irc and open source and the web (they did!) but social media was always about entertainment and (one way or another) monetization of those technologies. It’s the cancer of our collective mind and achievements.
Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#144Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#145Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is the exact opposite of what you think. The problem is the governments in those places, and not the private company. The private company would gladly connect everyone.
Strong disagree on this one! The problem is the company will do anything to stay operational in these repressive countries, including helping them hide human rights abuses (among other things). The logic that if the local government was more open about their repressive policies then Meta would happily help spread that information is probably true but I don't think anyone has ever disagreed with that.
Agreed, the company chasing infinite growth convinces itself that it must work with these repressive regimes. How could we not acquire these users! We need to keep growing, and growing! It shows that under capitalism there are no morals, no humanity, only profit and growth. When push comes to shove human rights abuses are forgivable, failure to maximize profit is not.
Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
Strong disagree on this one! The problem is the company will do anything to stay operational in these repressive countries, including helping them hide human rights abuses (among other things). The logic that if the local government was more open about their repressive policies then Meta would happily help spread that information is probably true but I don't think anyone has ever disagreed with that.
Yep. The worst of both worlds.. 1. Whatever the govt wants 2. Their own mods to max profit. Corporations were conceived specifically to remove responsibility. They should not be this widely available.
Not sure what anyone expects Meta to do differently here. Meta has basically two choices: they can obey the local law in places where they operate, or they can choose to not operate there.
Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
Meta has also been regularly nuking/blocking rights-related accounts in countries that do support human rights. E.g. in The Netherlands. First they did a mass block last December, then again in April: https://www.at5.nl/artikelen/237924/meta-verwijdert-instagra... Some were reinstated again, but not all and not after they have been offline for to long.
The Netherlands supports precisely those human rights that aren’t inconvenient for them. Just like every other country. There is no fundamental distinction here.
Which is relevant to my comment how?
(The Dutch government certainly rejects LGBTQ censorship.)
Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#148Remember when they told us that social media would "spread democracy" ?
No, I don’t. I remember when the internet would (it did!) and Usenet would (it did!) and irc and open source and the web (they did!) but social media was always about entertainment and (one way or another) monetization of those technologies. It’s the cancer of our collective mind and achievements.
Here you go.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/06/08/the-twitter-devolution/
See also...
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/06/evalu...
And these lies, of course, were spread by the social media platforms themselves and their PR departments.
Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#149Re: Meta blocks human rights accounts from reaching audiences in Saudi Arabia, UAE
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem with this summation is the government is complicit in their actions. Thus it undermines this simple private gain, public pain argument. A lot of the times when Meta does something like this the fact the governments in question essentially demand that action seems to be ignored. Would you have a better view of corporate power if corporations could unilaterally ignore the laws of sovereign countries in whic…
I hear you, there are countless problems to solve. My "..in a just world.." was doing a lot of heavy lifting. > I mean at least they are giving you a free service and you essentially take part in a transaction. Yes, it is akin to a transaction, but we cannot ignore the power imbalance between the user and the corporation. They actively engineer their platforms to keep you glued to the screen. It is far from free. You…
Fair enough, I appreciate the response. Just note in this case I think the precedent should not be private company can ignore public demand. If they can unilaterally ignore the demands of the Saudi government then why not any liberal government? If you operate in a country you should have to follow their rules. If the rules themselves are bad that is a different question.
The remedy in that case then would not be a tax but to ban them from operating in that country. We already have these sorts of export controls with other countries. It is just the case that despite their egregious human rights record (bone saw, anyone?) the United States has propped up the Saudi regime since basically it first came to exist roughly a century ago.
The reason is obvious - Saudi brutality is a feature not a bug. It secures access to cheap oil.