WTF, Zuck?

Things to know about Mark Zuckerberg’s message yesterday. 

TL:DR? It’s bad. Thankfully, there are things we can do to respond.

Here are some takeaways from me. 

1. Free speech (as long as the most powerful men have the ‘free-est’ speech) 

Zuck climbed firmly aboard the free-speech ultra’s bandwagon currently being driven by Elon Musk. Arguments about free speech fall short when it comes to the role of algorithms on social media. 

The latest Ofcom research in the UK suggests that ‘trending topics’ are by far the most common way that people access news stories. These trending topics are selected by algorithms designed to optimise user-engagement (ultimately to sell adverts). 

This is the same process that editors and journalists used to play when compiling newspapers. It is active editorial curation and it should fundamentally undermine the argument that these platforms are not also publishers (which is how they currently swerve accountability).  

2. Downplaying disinformation is all the rage 

There appears to be a concerted effort underway to dismiss disinformation as a problem in our democracies. It’s increasingly claimed that if you are ‘anti-disinformation’ you are ‘pro-censorship’ and therefore- by extension - anti free speech. This is ludicrous. It ignores the fact that social media platforms can promote or restrict any content they wish to. There are lots of problems with how the disinformation conversation has evolved but to deny that there’s a problem is short-sighted and doesn’t serve the best interests of democracy. 

3. Money will matter more than ever 

The decision to allow political content back on Facebook and Instagram opens the door to further monetisation of political discourse. If you happen to be an extremist right-wing billionaire  you’re now free to spend as much money as you want on content that aims to trigger toxic emotional responses and political radicalisation. This will also make it easier for money to impact elections outside of the US (here’s looking at UK electoral law…)

4. The floodgates to AI slop are now wide open 

This announcement coincided with exploration of AI accounts on Facebook and Instagram. These will now become increasingly common. When combined with the content generation capacity of AI we can expect to see an acceleration of the scale of AI content and AI created online ecosystems. This will empower bad actors who want to build influence in opaque and anonymous ways. 

5. Our alarm systems have been switched off 

All of this wouldn’t be such a problem if the systems by which we are supposed to be able to spot the mass manipulation of social media platforms through computational propaganda were not also being blocked or dismantled. In the last 6 months Meta has turned off Crowdtangle and now it’s relinquishing its efforts to detect   It’s like pouring petrol on a fire and then systematically removing the fire extinguishers.

6. It’s particularly bad news for women and minorities (but possible good news for terrorists) 

It’s not hard to predict an alignment between applied free speech fundamentalism and an increase in content which is offensive. That in itself might be defensible but when that content crosses a line to violating people’s rights, incentivising violence or political extremism that’s not ethical (even where it might be legal) and it would be good if the most powerful companies in the world could manage to hold themselves to higher standards. 

7.  Autocrats will be celebrating

These conversations often overlook the near total alignment between the narratives of the US right and the strategic interests of Vladimir Putin when it comes to weakening the fabric of liberal democracy. There is strong debate about the extent to which foreign interference has impacted western politics in recent years but there should be much less debate about whether democrats or autocrats should be feeling more optimistic about the future right now. 

If you missed it up top, I’ve written a guide to Winning the Fight for the Future of Information. Now could be a good time to read it.