Social Media

[Tizer]

That's the `echo chamber' effect that's corrupting big social media.
The bosses of the big social media companies appeared before a US political committee recently (Senate or House, can't remember which) but we haven't heard anything more about it. It must have gone down like a damp squib.

[Stanley]

I have noted of late that whereas Youtube used to remember what you watched and recommended more of the same it now ties to steer you into whatever is trending and to get back on track you have to go to search.
As for the senate hearing.... I think the bottom line is that the politicians can't agree about what should or could be done. They are in uncharted territory and the capital the companies control inhibits them. Does the US start to penalise 'success'?
Later, I see that Apple are the first US company to reach a value of $2trillion. Unimaginable number. (LINK)

[PanBiker]

Are you logged in to YouTube and do you subscribe to the channels you watch?

[Tripps]

I have noticed that videos which I saved on Youtube have now vanished. Some taken down by the person that posted them, some for copyright reasons, and some just vanished. from my list. For a while now - if something takes my fancy - I copy it and move it to memory that is under my control.

[Tizer]

I now run Firefox on the setting that deletes all cookies each time I close the software. The reason is that I began to find searches threw up too many of the same old web sites or topics when I was looking for different ones. It was trying to be too clever and sending me down the same old route, reducing opportunities for finding new information. So far I haven't noticed any adverse effects of deleting the cookies.

Regarding Apple and its $2 trillion...this Radio 4 programme is good...
`Will America’s “Big Tech” firms be reined in?' LINK
`US lawmakers are deciding whether to act against the country’s powerful tech giants. Some believe the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple are stifling competition. The companies have made huge profits during the Covid crisis and critics believe they will use this cash to buy competitors.'

I've copied a bit from the end of the following article because it shows how little the big social media companies are doing to clean up their act...
`Facebook 'danger to public health' warns report' LINK
`...it is also easy to find thousands of groups and individuals spreading misinformation with no apparent intervention from Facebook. A case in point is a page called Kate Shemirani - who calls herself Natural Nurse in A Toxic World and stresses her qualifications. In fact, Ms Shemirani's nursing registration was suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in July, after complaints she was spreading false information about Covid-19 and about vaccines. A glance at what she posts on Facebook and Twitter reveals relentless attacks on Bill Gates, the wearing of masks and NHS staff, whom she calls criminals and liars for perpetuating the "hoax" that is the coronavirus. But much of her content is about vaccines - this week she claimed the polio vaccine caused polio and had harmed and killed thousands. We forwarded this post to both Facebook and Twitter to ask if it broke their rules. While Twitter would not give a public statement, it indicated its rules covered Covid-19 only, so did not affect this post. Facebook said that while it doesn't prevent people from saying things that are factually incorrect, it has acted to make this and similar posts less prominent in people's news feeds.'

[Stanley]

The answer to Ian's question is yes I am logged in and have about eight subscriptions.
I shall have to look for that setting Peter, I fancy trying it!
I went and found it and activated the setting. We'll see how we go on!

[Tizer]

You can go to the Manage Exceptions part of the Privacy & Security settings (under Cookies and Site Data) and set web sites that you want to allow to put cookies on your PC, e.g. I have OGFB and BBC in there.

[Tizer]

Wow, big deal - they are going to freeze their accounts for 24 hours today!
`Kim Kardashian West joins Facebook and Instagram boycott' LINK

Meanwhile...
`Facebook staffer sends 'blood on my hands' memo' LINK
`Fake accounts have been undermining elections around the world, an ex-Facebook employee has claimed. In a 6,600-word internal memo to fellow workers, data scientist Sophie Zhang said she made decisions "that affected national presidents" without oversight. "I have blood on my hands," she wrote in the memo, parts of which were published by Buzzfeed..'.

[Stanley]

KK is after even more publicity as she is making a film about her life......

[Tizer]

Conspiracy theories, misinformation and the heightened danger with the forthcoming US elections...
`Tech Tent: Why are we so misinformed?' LINK (Rory Cellan-Jones, BBC Technology correspondent)

[Stanley]

To fall for that syndrome you must have to have no ability at all to disbelieve and question! The same people blindly follow and adulate 'celebrities'.

[Tizer]

But a lot of people, worldwide, now live in a social media world. They get all their information there and only communicate with others who are on social media. They believe what they see there and don't trust the `real world'. Hence the success of the QAnon type conspiracy theories and all the lesser misinformation, mistakes and frauds.

[chinatyke]

To fall for that syndrome you must have to have no ability at all to disbelieve and question! The same people blindly follow and adulate 'celebrities'.

There are millions of people following religions. I say that shows that lots of people "have no ability at all to disbelieve and question", they're just sheep.

[Stanley]

True China but are we absolutely certain that they are wrong? We all get our comfort in some way. I was heavily indoctrinated as a child and eventually started questioning it but I haven't lost my love and respect for some practitioners and the King James Bible. I still read theology and would recommend you look for Diarmaid MacCulloch on Youtube, he is sceptical but sensible and I always enjoy anything he has to say on the subject.
However, I don't have the same attitude to 'social media' much of which relies on activating the most lazy and basic instincts of the herd. Independent research and thought is not needed on that voyage!

[Tizer]

Some exciting times coming for the social media companies - and it might be a warning for the public too of what might be the fall-out from the next US election...
`US 2020 election: Social media's nightmare scenario' LINK

[Stanley]

It's worrying isn't it. I can't see any hope of an uncontested election in the US next month.

[Tizer]

More on how social media companies are preparing for the fall-out of the US election...
`How social media is preparing for US election chaos' LINK
`There aren't many in the US who are sure there'll be an election result on the night. Due to unprecedented numbers of postal votes, there could be days - possibly weeks - between the end of voting and the declared result. And in that period of uncertainty there are fears of civil unrest. Both sides could claim victory, and misinformation about the result could be rife. The worry is that anger, fake news and hate speech on social media could inflame tensions. So what is Big Tech planning to do about it?'

[plaques]

Is this just a bit of scare mongering. Each state will be required to count its own postal ballots. This shouldn't be a problem unless their postal system has been organised specifically to 'go slow' in getting the returns to base. Heads should then roll.

[Tizer]

No, it isn't scare mongering. Go listen to the Americast episodes. Ballot counting is likely to be delayed, even stopped, and there are warnings of armed men intimidating the ballot people. Trump has urged people to go and inspect the counting and you know what his supporters are like. Tooled up for job.

[Stanley]

Perhaps we should just wait and see what happens. We are trying to guess the result of an election in a fog of opinion from 'influencers', none of whom knows more than we do! Let's sit back and watch.

[Tizer]

`Here’s Why Trump Telling Supporters To Watch The Polls Could Be An Even Bigger Threat This Year' Forbes
`..The consent decree has blocked the RNC from using potentially intimidating “ballot security” measures to dissuade Democrats at polling places, and made it possible for Democrats to hold Republicans in contempt of court if they do. The consent decree continued to be extended over the ensuing decades, but ultimately expired in 2018, making 2020 the first presidential election since 1980 without the consent decree in place and in which the RNC’s poll watchers won’t have their activities restricted by the courts. Republicans had already been planning to ramp up their poll watching efforts as a result, recruiting up to 50,000 poll watchers nationwide, and RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel wrote in a Washington Post op-ed that the expiration meant the “playing field is level again” between Democrats and Republicans...'.

[Stanley]

I wonder how much of the 'news' we will be fed today about the US election will actually be gleaned from social media?

[Tizer]

On the radio this morning I heard a lady on the phone to a 98-year-old man, ringing him for a chat to support him in lockdown. They talked generally then he related how he'd been shot down over France in WW2, broken a leg, got caught by enemy and put in a POW hospital. All interesting but it was something at the beginning that triggered a chain of thoughts for me. When she asked how he was coping he said he read a newspaper every day and kept up to date on news. It suddenly struck me how different are the older and younger generations in this respect. We all know how young folk get their news on their smartphones and mainly from social media, newsfeeds such as Facebook etc. But they don't get what we used to have from reading newspapers - a general idea of what's going on in the world by reading or at least scanning through a whole newspaper. The news from social media sites is probably customised for the individual - after all, the companies promote this as a benefit. Hence the `echo chamber' problems.
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No surprise that this was in Trump's twitter feed...
`US election 2020: How a misleading post went from the fringes to Trump’s Twitter' LINK
`How did a misleading post travel from the fringes of the internet to the president's Twitter account? In the early hours of Wednesday, a post erroneously alleging voter fraud was posted on an extreme message board. In a matter of hours, it went viral and reached President Trump's Twitter feed. Here's how it happened...'.

[Stanley]

It's beyond frightening Peter. This isn't the fringes of insanity it's the real thing! All right it looks as though we have got rid of Trump but not of all the dross he dragged into the public arena.
It further reinforces my belief that the last thing I need is social media. I don't see Whatsapp as anything other than a versatile messaging tool because that's how I use it. As for the rest? Include me out!

[Tizer]

Let's be more specific though. The term social media covers a wide spread of web sites, forums etc but what we really mean is the Facebook/Twitter types that were a good idea to begin with but have also provided a vehicle for nasty, aggressive, abusive people posting anonymously who wouldn't normally get such stuff published in, say, a newspaper. The big social media companies should be treated like other publishers and not allowed to keep hiding behind the claim that they're `platforms not publishers' and therefore outside the laws controlling newspapers and magazines. Until we hold the companies in check we won't get rid of the bad stuff.