Amending Social Media!
It seems as if tech companies are having more say and are being given more power to restrict the speech of all types. Recently the American Defamation League has come out with a video on how they plan to control content. The companies that favoring this trend are Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google, YouTube parent company. Now the question is are these companies doing this based on ideological reasons. Are the public companies infringing on the 1st amendment? Are there any more conduits for free expressions?
The American Defamation League has created an online hate index that detects hate speech using artificial intelligence algorithms. It will gather results of hate speech so that tech companies “understand the extent of hateful conduct on their platforms. Thus, creating community-based definitions of hate speech. If this indeed is so, Americans should determine how they define it individually. Companies regardless of what the judgment says are not individuals.
But with ease, we have access to the social media outlets of our choosing because it entices reactions in favor and opposed. Yet these companies are the same ones attempting to figure out how to raise the dopamine levels in each user, in spite of all the negative flack people get for being on their respective platform. Even the former Facebook president Sean Parker admitted that its founders knew, ” they were creating something addictive. ‘That exploited vulnerability in human psychology’. ”
They hate ‘hate speech’ but love the interactions it causes on their platforms, therefore it seems as if they perpetuate it, doesn’t it? Facebook alone has 2 billion users.
As recent as March 5, 2018, The Guardian published a story regarding former Facebook & google employees starting a campaign to end tech addiction. According to research by Common Sense, it found that teenagers consume more than 9 hours of media/day while tweens consume 6 hours/day. Moreover, an additional & separate study was conducted by psychologist Jean Twenge discovered that 56% of daily digital media users are more likely to say they are unhappy, while 27% say they are depressed.
Is losing our freedom of speech worth social media? No! Is our time worth the loss of true interaction and intimacy? No! Are we worth more? Yes