Articles

Facebook has been repeatedly accused of censorship OR inciting violence and riots by leaving stuff up. Given that about 90% of daily active users of Facebook come from outside America, you can see how defining a single set of rule-book for global speech can be problematic.

The solution Facebook came up with is this Oversight Board. There can be a very decent argument that could be made suggesting that this board is just a body to absorb blame for all the wrong decisions Facebook makes itself. But as we discuss some of the decisions that this board has already made, I personally feel a bit more hopeful.

​

Watch the full video here.

The last 18 months for the social media moderation policies regarding free speech have been as rough as they can be. From social media companies saying that they don't want to be the "arbiters of truth" to applying fact check labels - it has been an interesting ride, to say the least.

This video tries to explain how the question that started with the misinformation began to get molded into the debate of freedom of speech on the internet. And, why various social media posts in the world's biggest democracy (India) during the worst outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic DISAPPEARED?

​

Watch the full video here.

When one tries to have antitrust cases against these billion dollars companies forcing them to be ethical, you can immediately see the dilemma of defining what is "ethical".

​

So the major question then becomes "Is Ethics and Privacy focused vision for social networking + advertising possible?"

​

Watch the full video here.

As we move to study the large-scale behavior targeting from the year 2008 to the year 2020, we see the basic underlying techniques of targeting an audience on the internet haven't dramatically changed.

However with the number of new devices going online every year exponentially increasing; the real changes can be studied in the significant implications of those targeting techniques and how they impact most of our decisions in our daily life, more than we expect.

​

Read more here.

TL;DR

• The targeting users technique hasn't changed much in the last decade. What has changed is the way it impacts us and concerns regarding that.

• Popular thought and why it is wrong. Human actions impact technology and not the other around. Why this is wrong on multiple levels.

• Return of technological determinism. And providing a user-centric experience is one of the plausible solutions for right now.

 

Read more here.