Most people would agree that having a safer Internet, free of harassment and full of truth, would be a good thing. But how to do that is another question. This hopeful and educational piece from Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev at The Atlantic outlines the history of how social media has come to easily breed un-truths. They address why cyberbullying and hate are so quick to proliferate on Facebook and Twitter, due to algorithms that prioritize viral posts over facts. And they also offer solutions. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/04/the-internet-doesnt-have-to-be-awful/618079/
Hyper-partisanship and conspiracy thinking predate social media, and message manipulation is as old as politics. But the current design of the internet makes it easier than ever to target vulnerable audiences with propaganda, and gives conspiracy thinking more prominence.
The ability to make a safer and more fact-oriented Internet has implications for us all, our society, and how we view each other. The good news: the possible solutions can accommodate many views as we follow a basic set of ethical and society-values tenets, along with a new technology construction and use.
Changes to social media would also help reduce online harassment and what fuels it. Online abuse is accelerating, especially toward women. And PTSD from online hate is real. We outline this acceleration in our TORN film's themes: https://www.torn-film.com/#explore
Ethan Zuckerman from the Digital Public Infrastructure at the University of Massachusetts of Amherst offers insightful ways we can make the Internet a better place. He says he's interested in the future systems that bring "social promise ... social-media sites designed deliberately in the public interest that could promote civil discourse, not just absorb your attention and data, and that would help reduce the angry tone."
Our film TORN addresses what it’s like to experience online harassment. We hope it will bring people to talk about this issue and support changes, like what are presented in the above Atlantic article.
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