Saturday, January 9, 2021

Trump vs Big Tech

 
Social media ‘algorithms’ are more about probability than ideology. They direct people to places they most likely want to go. It 's more like a popularity contest. Turns out right-wing conspiracy theories take up a lot of this space. Why not. They’re intriguing, especially to their biggest audience: adolescents. In 2016, YouTube decided to throttle back. They were concerned about promoting disinformation during elections. The right-wing was first to cry foul. They accused YouTube of censorship and threatened to reverse their Sect 230 protections. In his final days in office, Trump is doubling-down on this threat. Problem is ..without these protections social media platforms will start scrutinizing content even more, creating a vicious cycle that will hurt right-wing content providers the most. I have a theory. The right-wing isn’t stupid. They're run by a crafty TV-show host who’s looking for a media outlet of his own. Before he goes, however, he wants to take out the competition.

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