Shadow Banning
"Shadow banning'"seems to be the new tool of choice for the platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc) to corrupt the flow of information. Shadow banning works by letting a disfavored user post but substantially reducing the number of people who see their posts below what the normal algorithms would suggest.
A perfect tool for tyrants. Molding discourse but in a way that isn't detectable and doesn't generate outrage. The emergent digital regime is a great boon for tyrants and makes our job as a free(ish) people to retain our freedom even more difficult.
If we look at the various abuses of privacy by the platforms and the ISPs as documented by Zuboff in "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism", in which the perpetrators have been regularly found out but then lightly punished or not at all, I don't put much weight in the fear of the platform companies about consequences to restrain their actions. Zuboff provides a quite compelling account of their strategy whereby the platforms regularly transgress norms and when caught then spin, evolve, and superficially fix (but not in substance). It is their well-documented modus operandi.
Any claims that they are now operating in good faith needs some strong support if we are not to operate on the basis that past evidence of bad faith is a good predictor of future behavior. And of course, as Zuboff amply demonstrates, there are strong economic incentives to deny, obfuscate, and delay behaviors that while not illegal would if honestly and fully disclosed caused strong negative reactions from users and governments. Motive, opportunity, and pattern of bad behavior. Doesn't prove the crime, but....
Transparency would solve a LOT of problems. Why not legislation that requires all platforms with more than 5 million USA customers to publish the algorithms by which they manage attention? Not particularly useful for end-users but would provide tremendous grist for journalists, researchers and others who could interpret and shine a spotlight on abuses.
"In the end they valued their security more than their freedom.
And at the end they lost both their security and their freedom."
-Seneca, the Stoic Philosophers
The tech-moguls on Silicon Valley are destroying freedom of speech and unfortunately, the ordinary users are powerless to stop them. Unless the governments harden their stance against these tyrants, these platforms would operate against freedom. Decentralized social media really need to step up and replace these social platforms.
Transparency is the future of this world which will be solved by the blockchain that's for sure .
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I kind of feel like this is even happening here, but to be honest I don't think it is the platform that is bringing the person down, I think it is more the people on the platform. In the specific case I am talking about. There is a Steemian I follow who used to be pretty influential. Now they have kind of gone of the deep end and most of her posts are hidden. It's crazy.
Interesting. I've never even heard of shadow banning before. That would be super annoying for someone if they found out that it was being done to their blog or account. That book sounds pretty interesting.
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That is super frustrating. We have enough censoring in this world as it is. Personally I prefer the transparent and open source approach like steemit offers.
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