[kictanet] Facebook's real risk

Tue Nov 22 14:09:12 EAT 2016

Hi All,

I've been following this thread with some interest and figured I'd add some comments to it.

Moses, you pose an interesting hypothesis below, and one I tend to agree with - we do tend to group with others that share our common ideas and beliefs, and it does tend to lead to a closed minded approach on alternative views.  This is certainly a danger that I believe needs to be thought about.

At the same time, if I look at the uproar around the fake news, and I look at the impact of social media, I also believe that we must not discount the concept of personal responsibility.  So often we rely on the platforms we use to verify information, to protect us from fake news, to protect us from what we see.  But at the end of the day, each of us has a responsibility to verify what we read and make informed decisions.  That is the nature of personal responsibility, and I hesitate to blame the providers of a platform for how we, as users, choose to use it.

In a recent interview with one of the guys who writes a lot of satire and so called fake news - he was asked why he did it, and what he felt about the fact that some of his articles may have actually helped Donald Trump assume the presidency in the states.  He said that personally, he hated everything Trump stood for, and he regrets that, but in the past, people would have fact checked the stuff he wrote and discounted it, while Trump himself would have been spreading it around, and hence, his intention was actually to hurt the Trump campaign rather than help it, through writing satire.  Unfortunately, people choose to actually believe verbatim what was written.  Now - that raises a question - is he responsible for what was believed verbatim, or do you hold accountable the people who should have actually verified something before spreading it?  I tend to lean towards the latter.

One of the advantages of the internet is that there are loads of sources of information - fact checking things is easy - we just have to choose to do it.  We also have to be very wary of implementing controls and acting out of fears that are unsubstantiated and unfounded.  I have seen similar in AfriNIC recently, where there is a policy proposal coming before the Mauritian meeting that has horrific implications.  The basis behind it is that people are scared that someone MIGHT be abusing resources to we should implement something to cater for a hypothetical - irrespective of the damage that our risk mitigation may do - based on a fear that is unsubstantiated.

So guard against that - verify what we read - act from a position of knowledge rather than fear - and take personal responsibility rather than blame a platform for how we use it.

In the same way you cannot blame a computer if you commit an illegal act using it - because the computer is just the tool, it was you who used it in that manner.

Just my thoughts

Andrew

From: kictanet [mailto:kictanet-bounces+andrew.alston=liquidtelecom.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf Of Moses Karanja via kictanet
Sent: 21 November 2016 18:35
To: Andrew Alston <Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com>
Cc: Moses Karanja <mosekaranja at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Facebook's real risk

I think the biggest tragedy we face, not just as Kenyans but as humans, is the behavior of teaming with only those we agree with.

This takes two levels.

Consciously: Some shares a news item on your timeline about a topic you find disgusting. You unfriend or unfollow them.

Unconsciously: Social network algorithms study your behavior and show you those things they think you 'like'.

The end result is you have a busy social media life but you are only interacting with those who look like you.

We end up with very weak social genes thanks to 'digital in-breeding'.

Individuals can work on the first one - a very steep socialization process though.

The issue is the second level; can social networks rewrite their algorithms to bring diversity to their subscribers at the cost of weakened business models that depend on engagement and personalization of online experiences.

This is not a simple problem and even if Facebook fixes the 'Fake News' problem, this 'digital in-breeding' will still lurk with us, not forgetting that other social media platforms have a responsibility too.

-Moses

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