Talk is cheap. Hate is profitable.
Last week’s insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol was heartbreaking, horrifying and shameful. It was also entirely predictable.
And while the massive, privately owned media platforms that facilitated the uprising have finally taken bold action, banning and removing dangerous rhetoric and hate speech, they did so only after the deadly domestic terror attack took five lives and disrupted one of the core functions of our young democracy.
Donald Trump has been banned from Twitter and Facebook. Multiple businesses have suspended services for apps and forums that condone hate speech. Many have decried these actions as another massive conspiracy and an attack on free speech. Even otherwise level-headed and rational people are pulling out the “both sides” card, saying that “they” will come for “us” next.
De-platforming is not censorship. And freedom of speech does not mean freedom from the consequences of that speech.
If Donald Trump has something to say, he can call a news conference or send a sternly worded letter. He does not have an inalienable right to tweet, any more than I have the right to stand in the lobby of Trump Tower and recite the U.S. Constitution.
Trump was able to manipulate the national conversation 280 characters at a time only through the generosity of Jack Dorsey and Twitter’s shareholders. They’ve simply, belatedly, rescinded their invitation.
Nobody should be surprised to hear that they are not entitled to use Facebook, or have a right to post videos on YouTube, or even have perpetual, unlimited use of Gmail. There’s nothing wrong with using these services, but make sure you understand that they let you use them while they use you to make money.
No, the real travesty is not that voices have been silenced on these private networks. It’s that these companies have long profited from the rancor and discord that flooded through them. Facebook, Twitter and other social media services did more than allow conflict and divisiveness. They’ve fostered it.
If you’ve been using social media since its early, innocent days, you probably remember that the very first news feeds on every platform were chronological. That is, you’d be able to read through the posts of your friends and selected sources in the order they were published. Simple, understandable, reasonable.
Everyone who uses social media today knows that they’re consuming an algorithmically ordered news feed. Mathematical formulas and even artificial intelligence are being used to choose what items you see first, or more often, and what items you rarely or never see.
To blame these decisions on cold, faceless machines is disingenuous. Human engineers designed them, and with purpose. These feeds are “optimized,” they’ll say, showing things you’re most likely to engage with.
And that’s where the danger lies. Visibility, and thus value, is assigned to a “like,” a comment, a repost. It didn’t take long for politicians, businesses and even your aunt to realize that the best way to get attention was to be provocative. While she keeps turning up in your Facebook feed ranting about Black Lives Matter, your uncle and his oil paintings don’t stand a chance.
On YouTube, if you set your kid down in front of “Schoolhouse Rock” at 8 a.m., the all-powerful algorithm will dutifully choose related, more engaging videos to show next. By dinner your kid will believe JFK was killed by aliens.
Today it’s starkly obvious how the worst parts of our nature were pushed to the front and top of the small, scrollable windows through which we perceive the world. Are things really more partisan and factious than ever? Or have we been seeing the world through someone else’s crimson-colored glasses?
We are the human batteries that power these giant machines. And if those machines are benevolent and provide happiness, connectedness or productivity, all is well with the world.
But it is important that we understand the nature of this relationship, and what multibillion-dollar technology platforms get from us in exchange for the innovative or entertaining services they provide.
I’d like to think that they need us more than we need them. I’d like to think that if Facebook or Twitter go too far, we could all unplug from the Matrix and build something bigger and better, less centralized, more egalitarian.
But I also wonder why that hasn’t happened yet.
Ryan Ozawa is the founder of Hawaii Hui LLC, focused on online community and collaboration. Join his open tech discussion forum at HawaiiSlack.com.
