Moderation, Spotify and Bans
New Year. Not reached the happy bit yet.
All in moderation
In a draft of December’s newsletter, which never got sent thanks to some intense SAD, we wrote about the shift from Twitter/X to BlueSky and how it was part of the larger reveal of right-wing support from in the tech space. Elon supported Trump, Google’s enshitification, Tech CEOs funding eugenics. But this month we have finally someone who has just given up. Zuckerberg just came out and said he just doesn’t care anymore.
In an Instagram reel, the Meta CEO announced that they are returning to a platform free of moderation and instead opting for X-style community notes, where users flag posts they think are incorrect. Meta employs dozens of fact-checking organisations and newsrooms worldwide, using its extensive investment in AI to develop fact-checking software. They were shocked to hear the news, too, feeling “blindsided”. And they have a right to feel so - Zuckerberg loves to boast about how they are developing the most advanced AI systems, but it looks like he doesn’t trust these automated systems to monitor the very platforms he is in charge of.
They’re also lifting restrictions on some forms of speech previously considered harmful, including some criticisms of immigrants, women, and transgender people.
So what does this mean for Facebook, Instagram and Threads? According to 10 current and former employers, it will “substantially increase the amount of harmful speech on Meta's platforms”. For example, you can now post that gay people don't belong in the military, or that trans people shouldn't be able to use the bathroom of their choice or blame COVID-19 on Chinese people, according to this round-up in Wired. (You can also now call women household objects and property, per CNN.) The company also (why not?!) removed a sentence from its policy explaining that hateful speech can “promote offline violence.”
Oh but they are moderating something - their reputation. The company is deleting internal criticism of their UFC CEO Dana White , and blocking stories from 404 Media about internet censorship.
It’s a shitstorm which reinforces a breaking online social space in which misinformation, sensationalist political views and plain old hate speech rules our digital feeds. This shift to the right from the tech industry is not new, but it’s certainly become more brazen and evident in the wake of a new presidency.
The United Tik of Tok
On 10th Jan, USA’s Supreme Court will likely uphold the law that would ban TikTok in the US. There is still some uncertainty over how it will fall out, but it’s looking more and more likely that the app won’t be legal to access in the USA as early as 19th January (a day after a convicted felon swears into presidency)! Looks like a lot of American TikTokers are already flocking to a new app, Xiaohongshu, an incredibly popular Chinease social media app. So much for the fear of international interference.
One of the most interesting arguments is how this will impact the music industry. Artists and vendors alike have invested huge sums into building a platform for their stars - songs with viral dances becoming number-one hits or random viral moments leading to millions of new Fleetwood Mac fans. This piece from The Pudding in 2022 charted what TikTok virality meant for musicians.
Why Spotify Wrapped Sucked
I am not a fan of Spotify Wrapped. Our music choices are SO much more than just a ranked list of most played songs. Big numbers don't correlate to my favourite artists or songs. So I have never been a big fan of this luxury surveillance model, in which we say “Hey look at how much data this company has on me, but it’s done in a nice graphic so it’s cool.” You can read more about the dangers of algorithmically determined music choices in Liz Kelly’s brilliant ‘The Ghost in the Machine”
But 2024’s wrap was categorically worse - thanks to the Spotify redundancy rounds, which saw them let go of data scientist Glenn McDonald. He spoke to Billboard back in April about what he could do with all those insights, saying, “I worked on fraud detection and on the artist similarity algorithms, and tons of editorial tools and internal metrics.” It’s likely McDonald’s departure is also why smart playlists like Discover Weekly have gone seriously down hill over the last year.
And finally:
Finally watched I Saw The TV Glow and loved it
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Arda + Savena
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