The corona crisis has created more mistrust in government, science and the press. Distrust that is fueled by all kinds of conspiracy theories and misinformation. Many people believe that social media and the associated algorithms of social media giants like Google and Facebook amplify this misinformation. The gunfire fired at a Washington pizza parlor by a Hillary Clinton hater in late 2016 shows how fake news and even the most bizarre conspiracy theories are associating with a wide audience (Fisher, Cox & Hermann, 2016). Of course, it’s not Google or Facebook’s fault that people believe in these theories. But the algorithms they use are focused on personal preferences so that they can give a better personal internet experience to the customer. This can be beneficial if you are searching for a pair of shoes, and you get a lot of nice shoes suggested. However, on the other hand, negative factors can create an even more negative spiral. This is because the algorithm is built to feed you the same kind of information. Thus, if a customer searches for conspiracy theories, it will be suggested by the algorithms the next time. This makes someone see it more and more and believe in it more and more. This also applies, for example, to people with eating disorders or suicidal tendencies. These people go to the internet looking for confirmation about their thoughts. The algorithms can then present even more nasty images, which only feed the disease.
These problems cannot be solved by fines or by splitting Facebook, but new ways to regulate the internet giants must be developed. There must be full disclosure about the algorithms that determine what users see. And while internet platforms like Facebook aren’t liable for the content of what users post, they should be for the effects of those algorithms. So for the future, it is important keep on improving these algorithms, and make sure that it can filter out these negative effects.
Fisher, M., Cox, J. W., & Hermann, P. (2016). Pizzagate: From rumor, to hashtag, to gunfire in DC. Washington Post, 6, 8410-8415.
