Comment on “IG is a drug”: Internal messages may doom Meta at social media addiction trial
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Fuck Facebook and also this is clearly morphing into a moral panic about social media in a way that is extremely unproductive, dangerous and ultimately a distraction from the actual issues at hand.
Billionaires are running the most popular social media sites and utilizing the algorithm to attempt to influence their addicted userbase on a large scale, and succeeded on many demographics and even win elections.
I don’t think it is a stretch to call it a moral panic, because its not an unbiased and transparent system that is dictating what is seen and spread. It is a huge black box propganda tool.
Except the propaganda mostly isn’t what the “social media addiction” folks are worrying about.
Even people who don’t care about usage of propaganda are affected, since these social media addicted folks have brought up how they are getting more unrelated propaganda content exposed to them even if all they want to see is cats and food recipes as an example.
The “social media is a drug” people are interested in using this pseudo-science to promote more of their propaganda and eliminate counter-narratives.
TikTok? Anybody remember what happened there? Exactly this.
nah… mark is clearly an international drug dealer and needs to have all his property seized, and then destroyed while he rots in prison.
both things can be true!
moral panic about social media in a way that is extremely unproductive, dangerous and ultimately a distraction from the actual issues at hand.
100%. Yeah that’s the point. If there’s any alternative narrative, hegemony stirs up a panic then takes over control.
Just look at what happened with TikTok. A bunch of obvious fascists started up a campaign. A bunch of liberals and other obvious fascists took it over… Now we have fash tiktok.
The people foaming at the mouth in this comm want to do it all over again with every form of “social media”. It’s gonna be rich when they come for Lemmy.
halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Not sure if you’re trying to argue that modern social media is a good thing… Because it really isn’t. All of these platforms are actively detrimental to our mental health and destabilizing society. All of them have their billionaire owners manipulating the algorithms to maximize what they want you to see and minimize opposing views, if not outright removing them (like Meta is doing with the ICE List currently).
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Massive corporate social media companies and rightwing billionaires are the problem, not social media.
What are you doing here then?
EncryptKeeper@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Lemmy might fit within the technical definition of social media, but don’t be so obtuse as to equate an anonymous community message board with the likes of Facebook and IG that are tied to your identity, and are designed algorithmically to keep you engaged as long as possible and pressuring you to share more and more of your personal life.
supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
then use your brain and analyze this deeper than social media = bad
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Do you really think the state and its fascists care about this differentiation?
They will literally come after Lemmy the first chance that they get.
And it will be at least partially a result of y’all libs calling for it.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Who is downvoting this? jfc…
Y’all are rabid about this “social media” but give a pass to literal fascism.
acockworkorange@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago
Getting my fix, now move over.
IronBird@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
news networks have been doing this same for centuries
RipLemmDotEE@lemmy.today 3 weeks ago
No, news networks are not algorithmically curating content specifically for each individual person, based on personal traits that they record based on usage.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Yes they are. That’s what Fox news does. It curates content specifically for their wacky users.
Whether they use an “algorithm” or not is a meaningless difference based on luddism.
porcoesphino@mander.xyz 3 weeks ago
Humans have been killing each other as long as we’ve existed isn’t an argument to avoid trying to make it happen less
IronBird@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
just saying billionaires manipulating shit has been the norm for ages, which is why we used to have media-ownership limits…repealed under Clinton iirc
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Murder =/= social media.
It’s pretty sad that I have to say this. People are really losing their minds of this “social media” hype.
technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
According to you? How do you feel about the TikTok takeover? Anxiously awaiting the same for Lemmy?
Taldan@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
We have study after study showing various prominent social media platforms are bad for mental health, so that part feels pretty clear
Destabilizing society is a harder one to show, but I’d argue Cambridge Analytica, and similar programs are what got Trump elected in 2016. Social media played a very interesting part in elections in the Philippines as well, due to the inability for most to fact check any information shared on social media (Meta/Facebook provided cell service for free only to their platforms)
It’s undeniable that large numbers of bots are used to shape public perception of topics. Several talks at Black Hat and Defcon have investigated specific attack chains used, and how sock puppets are used to spread specific misinformation
Given those factors, I think it’s fair to say social media is destabilizing society. It’s far too easy for relatively small groups to affect public perception. That isn’t to say propaganda didn’t exist before, just that it’s a far more powerful tool than has ever existed in history
Obviously negatively, and I think it’s irrational for Americans to feel positively about it. For an average citizen, a foreign country controlling a platform like that should be a good thing. China can’t do anything to me. I don’t have to fear reprisal from China for speaking out against the government. I do have to worry about reprisal from the US
Further, China has far fewer incentives to shape the opinions and discourse of Americans. Obviously they want to push a pro-China message, but that’s a relatively small sub-sect of American politics compared to the issues the US government would like to shape public opinion on