Data is everywhere, and that includes our personal data, despite many people not realizing it. It's far from worthless too. Social media companies find it so valuable that they sell it for billions of dollars worth each year. We go on their sites, and we give it away, for free, while they control the flow of all data that the rest of get access to.
If they want to change what we see, they do, as they have been doing in the last few years. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and even Google have algorithm that alter and affect what we get to see. This influences what we have access to and can even think about by being exposed to it or not. Twitter has been caught tampering and shadow-banning republican voices. The mainstream media denigrated counter-narratives as "fake news" as the continue to dominate the minds of the public.
Mainstream media has been feeding people what to believe and think about, and now social media is taking over with record profits by comparison. They get their power and money from us, the saps who feed them our data. How much of yourself are you sharing to help feed their media empires? As a result of the power we've given them, they are now in positions to influence the social discourse and public consciousness.
The Guardian in the UK is even covering their dominance of data. "Data has become the world’s most important resource," they write, the "new lifeblood of capitalism". All our personal info, preferences, likes, dislikes and everything in between is now "the world’s most important treasure", the new treasure of treasures for the 21st century.
An revolution evolution needs to happen, where we don't just give our data away fro free just to use their services for them to make billions of dollars from. They don't have our best interests in mind, and want the government to but out of trying to possibly limit their ability to use our data for their profits.
Should we continue to let ourselves be exploited, or should the government step in to help us from our own foolishness? It's a tricky argument. If we accepted the non-interference of government in all aspects of life, we would probably still have slavery as an overt dominating factor of industry since the economic interests would have simply kept on going as they had been. Human slavery was legal for thousands of year, and only recently in history has it become recognized as a wrong across the board and acted against. Should we have let thing continue simply for the ideal of non-governmental interference? Or do we have to put up external control towards moral ends when the rich powers refuse to engage in moral self-control?
We have "laws" to prevent monopolies that would overtake industries and be able to manipulate prices with a disregard for the customer in favor of maximizing as much profits as they can. If companies acted morally, or if people wouldn't support the immoral practices, things could change, but we aren't taking up our personal responsibility to no participate or support what's wrong. We just go along to get along.
The data monopolies are bing ignored by policymakers and the public alike. People just want the marketplace of interaction on social media, and don't really care about their data or the profits being made from it. Do companies really need all that data for them to operate, or even turn a profit to stay in business? Making billions of dollars a year isn't a necessity to stay in operation, or improve how things operate.
Our exchange of personal data between each other allows them to siphon and feed of of it. Social media giants want to be able to do what they want with our data. The Internet Association, who's members include Facebook and Google, has giants banded together to stop the government from stopping them from doing what they want with your data.
They want to be able to move the data around as they wish, stopping the government from limiting them to keeping sensitive personal data "stored or processed in the country where it's acquired". The Internet Association also wants to forbid the government from having them share details of the algorithms. They want regulators to grant them these "rights" or "protections".
Government may not be the best to have the publics interest in mind either, but that doesn't mean social media companies do. Governments also gather our data and spy on us. Although, they may not be making billions of dollars from it each year. Both of these sectors lack transparency about what they are doing with our data and the algorithms they use to manipulate it and us.
Social media has become an addictive facet of our modern lives. It's engineered to be addictive, as seen in the "The Social Network" about Facebook's origins. We might need to face our social media addiction and stop the juggernauts from dominating the present and future of our societies.
Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.
References:
- Data is wealth: Your personal info is now worth so much that it’s a mistake to give it away to corporate America for free
- Data is the new lifeblood of capitalism – don't hand corporate America control
- Priceless
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