This opinion piece argues that Europe should “shut down recommender algorithms” of the big US social media platforms - Facebook, X, Instagram, etc. - because the author believes that these algorithms are undermining European democracy.
The most obvious example of such an algorithm is on X, where Musk can manipulate the algorithm to boost European far-right parties, like AfD. But the author argues that other social media CEOs, like Zuck, are beholden to Trump’s anti-liberal agenda - for example, Trump “openly threatened to throw Mark Zuckerberg in jail for the rest of his life”. Therefore: “It is reasonable to assume that tech oligarchs will do what [Trump] tells them”, which may include the Trump administration pressuring US social media companies to recommend more right-wing content.
So the author says: “The EU must immediately switch off the tech companies’ algorithms on its soil, at least until they are proven safe for democracy”. Do you agree with that?
They’re right. Algorithms are arguably responsible for a lot of the political and social issues that we’re experiencing right now. They’re literally designed to divide us.
What I mean by that, is that these algorithms were built to maximise engagement, so they would promote content based on how engaged (how many ‘clicks’) users would get, but without any other context about the content (eg. Factuality, impartiality etc). It turns out that content that triggers intense emotional responses are the most engaging, so these algorithms would promote emotionally engaging content, and nothing gets people more engaged than outrage and anger. So more and more algorithms would promote content that made people angry and outraged, and when companies and political groups realised this, they latched on to their new found ability to manufacture outrage for their own benefit.
That’s where we are now. Algorithmically driven social media is essentially a tool for collecting personal data, and dividing its users for political gain.
We spend so much time worrying about the impact of AI, that we don’t realise the impact of these things that are already causing massive amounts of damage.
It’s important to note that this isn’t a hunch. This has been studied and proven. We know this is happening and nobody is doing anything on a political level to stop it.
Thanks for this.
Agreed. Algorithms, bots and fake news work together to create and perpetuate harmful narratives.
I think the DMA has the right idea and it should be extended. Any platform with a large user base should be heavily regulated and controlled.
We can still have mostly unregulated and uncensored free speech on small platforms, since those aren’t harmful for our democracy.