DailyPost 806
SOCIAL MEDIA ROGUES
Presumably, social media is here to stay or it is made out to be. Life was live & kicking before the social media and would be so post it’s demise. The indispensability of the social media got into the heads of these companies and the government’s have also reacted with accommodating response which they don’t deserve. With stockpile of data at their beck and call, what we are dealing with are social adversaries out to finish the social & democratic rhythm of countries and they should be tackled accordingly, lest we land in a USA type of a predicament, where the legality in a way is in question. Technically it might not have any issues.
With all the hue and cry, there is hardly any concrete action coming from these companies, some superficial tweaking in public utterances and in small features will not deliver dividends. Possibly, it can’t. Facebook in particular is facing criticism for contributing to civil unrest, sectarian turmoil, delayed response to disinformation campaigns, misleading users about data-handling policies and efforts to discredit critics. It pertains to large part to criminal law and disturbing peace in a society. It is doubtful if something major happens, then the democratic governments will be able to turn a blind eye. There is no need for these companies to wait for the government regulations.
Without much delay Facebook and Twitter and others in the fold could make significant changes to effectively limit political manipulation. It is doable for sure. There is an effort involved and it cuts into the business model. There would certainly be a difference between an East India Company and a responsible public limited company in democratic India. Will they act? And will the users vociferously ask out of the social media giants. They “tend to underplay the society wide damage and tend to describe the problem as much smaller, resulting from rogue individuals and groups hijacking the system for nefarious purposes.”
The Digital Influence Machines created by these machines are double edged swords. Experiments with large chunks of population cannot be allowed. The kid glove approaches of the govts and solutions without touching the business model by social media giants are not meant to deliver results. Posterity will never forgive us.
SOCIAL MEDIA HAS TO BE REGULATED AS ANY OTHER INDUSTRY, END TO END.
Sanjay Sahay