Not that one has to bluntly tell the truth, but it's interesting when that happens
(...)
York: I've always found their work really interesting. Okay, changing topics a little: let’s talk about social media. What concerns you at the moment?
That conspiracy theories are becoming mainstream. Ten years ago, scientific consensus was considered factual for example, but that has been completely dismissed by those in power. Somehow we have reached a point where not wanting the world to burn is being considered 'politically radical'.
See, our communities online and off, depend on shared truths and if you think about it, what the Internet—and the social media spaces that so many of us rely on daily—have created is a sense of identity by over-inflating the value of our opinions while equally maximizing the sense of opposition, all while simultaneously destroying the sense of personal impact on just about anything. We are so totally unaware of our own confirmation biases on these platforms because everything can appear equally legitimate. Our personal lives are quite literally monetized and becoming public domain but more than that, I am afraid people have lost the ability to parse facts, and our democracy and freedoms—of speech, of art and expression—literally depend on that.
Companies like Facebook will not change because their entire profit model relies on clicks, and nothing generates those like lies, conspiracy theories and declarations of victim-hood by some of the most powerful and privileged men in the world. If social media companies were held to the same basic standards of print, movies or TV perhaps this could alleviate some of these issues.
If for example, Facebook had to fact-check ads before running them, they could prevent the micro-targeting and disseminating of lies and 'fake news' before it starts but as of now they do not—instead they actually help you target your audiences instead for maximum audience engagement and views, further spreading and encouraging disinformation on a massive scale....
