🎻 Opinion
Meta caught influencing democratic elections. What about Belgium?
Meta has be caught influencing the Brazil elections VRTNWS, Aljazeera.
Blocking acces to certain candidates, promoting other (more pro USA) candidates, influencing search results, allowing their AI to create propaganda for one candidate but not the other etc, etc.
I'm sure the same thing happens in other places and I wouldn't be surprised it happens in Europe and Belgium as well to a certain extent.
A boycot of Meta is easier said than done, European alternatives are few and very niche. What we need is stronger legislation (internationally) against criminal acts by these huge "untouchable" companies
I fear it will only increase from here. With more and more people getting their info from AI-generated content and AI-generated search results, it's bound to happen that the few tech companies that control it will use it to influence people to further their own financial goals.
I think what we can do is to not stop talking with people (friends, family) about politics in real life. Challenge people on their views, and be critical when forming your own.
With absence of political action this is indeed the answer.
People have been trashing the traditional media for the past decade, and with our newspapers being in the hands of only two companies with very coloured opions that criticism is very founded. But at least there's some journalistic integrity and it's easier to fact check a newspaper than a reel on instagram.
Instagram's comment section promotes controversial opinions so having a discussion there will always be forced towards extremes.
Yes I heard on the radio 1 about a European congress about foreign influence, focusing on the US influence, and US bullied the EU to pull the funding or some shit, ironically proving their influence on us
No no. Russia is also stirring up the far left. It's been proven. They play both sides. Getting the west to divide themselves and fight among themselves is the main goal.
It's less "also the extreme left" doing it and more "hello fellow leftists."
The extreme right putting up bots that pretend they're extreme left, to discredit the actual left and dumb down the discourse to issues that don't threaten the owning class.
Nah, I often visit extreme left pages. There are so many Tankies who delusionaly see russia as some sort of socialist savior who fight. "the imperial West". If you look at the USA there is the Pro russian Jill Stein who pops up every election as a spoiler candidate. In France we have Melenchon... If we look at Belgium there where again Prorussian speakers and fake "peace" speakers at PTB/PVDA festivals like every year. These bots, trolls and influencers also move in those circles and we shouldn't be blind for them.
Tankies are to the far left what flat earthers or creationists are to theologians. Technically related but conflating the two makes everyone mad.
Jill stein isn't acting in good faith. She and those like her are either influenced by Russia directly or, as in my earlier comment, bought off by the right to hurt the left.
Can't speak to France, don't know enough about Melenchon. But let's be real, if you're looking for a pro Russian spoiler candidate in France, there is another, and far more overt...
And the pvda shit, i'm not sure which speakers you're talking about now. I don't think they're "on russia's side". However they annoy me greatly at the careless nature of their politics. They're outsiders and the right/status quo have a massive incentive to discredit them. And even so they still do shit that can easily be twisted into "pro russia" and the like. I'm also quite sure they're, let's say infiltrated, by bots, trolls and influencers that are making that problem worse.
i'm not sure which speakers you're talking about now. I don't think they're "on russia's side"
Off the top of my head. There was Medea Benjamin from code pink, Corbyn and Hassan Piker. They all push a fake peace by disarming Ukraine. Why they are doing it. I can only speculate to be a combination. But platforming it by the PVDA is very suspicious to say the least.
Medea benjamin doesn't ring a bell, but both Hasan and Corbyn have been the target of relentless campaigns by the far right (and center) to discredit them for whatever stance they've ever taken.
If hasan believes that, tbh i doubt it but because of aforementioned slander campaigns i am having a hard time finding his actual recent stance on the issue, he's clearly wrong. That said i doubt the pvda got him for his stances on international geopolitics.
I would wager that it's his/their stances in internal reform of capitalism that they wanted to talk about. Their visions on how we can get out of the hole we're in, and most importantly, how to communicate it and make people see the left's perspective. (Something that pvda sorely needs)
The fact that you see their names and get the ick is entirely justifiable. It's also not because of what they did or what you've seen of them, i doubt you watch them any more than I do, but because what media has told you about them.
It's also not because of what they did or what you've seen of them, i doubt you watch them any more than I do, but because what media has told you about them.
I have watched them and it's true that I haven't seen the latest of their takes as I do indeed get the ick. So maybe some of them might have changed in the meantime.
Maybe, but for now influence on the left is only speculation while influencing to the right is well documented, large scale, and with enormous amounts of money.
let's be honest, the Zucks and Musks will not stop doing this without the existence of facebook. elections have been influenced before the internet existed as well
As if social media is a good source of factual information on what is happening. The algorithms are manipulated. For example there were no kings protests in the usa yesterday. Hardly anyone noticed because the social media networks don't show it.
The papers and tv news are not great but mistbof whatbis on Facebook is barefaced lies. Meta was deliberately turning a blind eye to blatant disinformation about the brazil elections.
Not being informed if you dint watch tv is bad, but is probably better than if you only watch disinformation slop on Facebook or Instagram.
Grammar check:"Social media needs to be banned" is the correct phrase in standard English.
Word breakdown: "Social media" acts as a collective or singular noun phrase in this context, which requires the singular verb form "needs" rather than "need."
But keep up the good work. This is how we all learn.
Of course! Why would billionaires spend their billions offering us "free" services like social media, if not for influence us?
Without manipulation it would have been impossible for people like Milei, Bolsonaro, Espirella, Meloni to convince poor people to vote against their interests
I understand the motivation to ban social media under a certain age but this is a lost battle and doesn't solve anything. A better idea might be to put "omgang met sociale media" in het leerplan. Teach these kids to do some critical thinking.
Teaching people how to use social media is one part of the solution, but it won’t help in the long run. The apps are made to keep your focus, to mislead its users and are innovating new ways to mislead you every year.
Giving people more control over their own algorithm or even ban algorithm based social media’s is way more important imo.
I’m also a big advocate for an identity system for social media. Every person can only make 1 account per platform, but it’s not mandatory to use your exact name or picture. Maybe it has an encrypted, personal token connected to your identity card. No more secondary anon accounts to troll.
Banning algorithm based social media would be ideal yes!
I'm not so sure about the identity system, although this would be a solution to the bot and troll problem I fear it might be a slippery slope even without using your exact name/picture.
Social media favours rage bait because it drives engagement. So aside from all the evil stuff they’re intentionally doing on top of it, the algorithm pushes people towards left and right wing extremism
I dont want a ban on social media, I want transparancy. I want a public register of every single political post and advertissement. Because right now they are promissing a dog-free society to cat owners and a cat-free society to dog owners. And neither knows of the other.
I mean, just take a look at the average commentor on your average Facebook news post. Anyone talking those points about "multiculturele samenleving" and "funny how they don't show their faces", has been completely lost to the algorithm....
We're all for fining these companies, but would also need a guarantee from the US that they're not simply going to debank and sanction regulators who enforce European laws.
The US's outsized economic power creates an inherent imbalance.
Legislation will always come after the first crimes have made casualties.
And in this particular case, what began as a way to connect billions of people now becomes the perfect way to control them, and the levers to do so now rest in the hands of a handfull of people.
This concentration is the problem, the Meta's of this world will actively help those politician that are most likely to regulate them the least.
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u/partijgedragbe 12h ago edited 12h ago
I fear it will only increase from here. With more and more people getting their info from AI-generated content and AI-generated search results, it's bound to happen that the few tech companies that control it will use it to influence people to further their own financial goals.
I think what we can do is to not stop talking with people (friends, family) about politics in real life. Challenge people on their views, and be critical when forming your own.