I recently realized something that laid the connecting string to a lot of open-ended questions that were running through my mind and invading a lot of discussions within my circle of friends. These questions revolve around the issue of political polarization, the support behind so many conspiracy theories, and the difficulty behind listening to individuals that have differing opinions than your own. For a long time, the question of “How did these things or believes (that are sometimes not true) become so extreme in its views and voice?” was always at the center of conversation among friends. The question was always left with a shrug and a very vague answer like “If you believe in something so strongly, I guess you can always find a group of like-minded people”.
This answer was not at all aware of the persuasive technology that is nudging individuals with damaging content or advertisements on social media or browsing sites, based on a person’s previous online behavior, in hopes of offering personalized content that would lead someone to interact longer on such a site.
I am talking about the new Netflix documentary/drama called “The Social Dilemma”. This movie included engineers, computer scientists, data analysts, business model developers who worked in leading technology companies such as Twitter, Google/Youtube, Pinterest, and Facebook. Some even being the people behind the recommendation system that drives the persuasive technology used on social media platforms.
The summary of the actual answer to this polarization phenomena question now that I have watched this movie, is that social media companies gain more revenue (through advertisements) if an individual spends longer on the site. To do this social media platforms use AI to recommend individuals with personalized content that would entice them to stay longer on the site. In my head, this monetization system would not raise any red flags, because it seems like a win-win situation. Initially, it looks like an extension of my friend group recommending me products or articles that I would love to consume or read. However, I am forgetting that my friends have different interests than me, and would recommend things that I would not ever have found out about if it were not for them.
The developers of this system initially were not concerned either. Until very prominent societal differences in views started appearing, where fake news and third parties were influencing people’s behavior and changing them in a way that did not leave any space for opposing opinions or research-based arguments proving certain conspiracy theories wrong. The AI software, which is based on massive amounts of personal consumer data, created a bubble of individualized content, including recommendations to groups who have similar views as you do. Excluding those who do not align with your opinions. An example that they used in the movie was that if you had a history of clicking conspiracy theory articles and clips, this recommendation software could introduce you to a similar conspiracy group on Facebook. Leading to a distortion of an individual’s reality, since their whole timeline is then certifying these fake claims, creating a false sense of truth behind every interaction, because of the lack of opposing opinions. This has led to a lack of patience and openness towards other views than our own.
However, on the flip side, platforms such as Twitter have been starting to label misleading content, warning and reminding consumers that not everything online is true, and YouTube has been removing demonetization from conspiracy videos while trying to adjust their algorithm to block content that is not in line with their guidelines. So change is happening, but there is still so much to be done.
I thought that this movie would be very doom and gloom in the beginning because of the dramatization of certain examples and would only focus on the bad side of these technological advances in social media. However, I thought it was quite insightful, specifically because they included technological developers and asked their opinion behind the creation and of the adverse effects thereafter. What did you think about the movie?
References
The Social Dilemma | Netflix Official Site. (2020). Retrieved 13 September 2020, from https://www.netflix.com/nl-en/title/81254224?trkid=13747225&s=a&t=wha
Twitter. (2020). Updating our approach to misleading information. Retrieved 13 September 2020, from https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2020/updating-our-approach-to-misleading-information.html
Thomson, P. (2020). Understanding YouTube Demonetization and the Adpocalypse. Retrieved 13 September 2020, from https://learn.g2.com/youtube-demonetization
