IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2023 - 15
models learned to feed users increasingly extreme
viewpoints. 'Over time they measurably become
more polarized,' he says " [1].
Hao also describes internal researchers making shocking
discoveries, such as Facebook's own recommendation
tools being responsible for 64% of all extremist
group joins on the platform. Attempts to limit this were
dismissed internally as being " antigrowth. " Task forces
meant to assess the relationship between political
polarization and engagement were disbanded. To this
end, Facebook has chosen to assume a crucial, symbiotic
role in disinformation campaigns. Bad actors publish
lies and manipulative content, which Facebook
preferentially spreads, generating profits along the way.
We saw the consequences of this symbiosis on 6
January 2021. Facebook's own algorithms contributed
to the creation of an army of conspiracists who
believed that deep-state child predators had thrown
the election to force Trump out of office [2]. They
were willing to commit treason for their cause. To
Meta, Facebook's parent company, this is just an
externality of a wildly profitable strategy.
There is always the chance that with enough negative
attention, companies might begin self-regulating
to protect their image. However, given Facebook's
pitiful attempts at self-regulation, which saw the deactivation
of a model that filtered antivaccine misinformation
in the name of " fairness " to conservatives [1], I
think it is unlikely that self-regulation would do much
good. It certainly has the potential to leave us open
to masspersonal social engineering and other harm.
So what can we do to protect our society against
disinformation? A good place to start would be limiting
how large and powerful these social media platforms
can get. The sort of profit-seeking behavior that
leaves the door open for disinformation and masspersonal
social engineering is not unique to Facebook.
If Facebook is correct in its hypothesis, that feeding
users polarizing content is the best way to increase
engagement, then the problem generalizes to any
social media company that makes more money with
increased engagement-basically all of them.
In the book's conclusion, Gehl and Lawson give
this phenomenon a nod, labeling it " the political
economy of bullshit. " However, the solution they propose
falls short. Their antidote is improved media literacy-to
ask people to think critically and parse out
bullshit they see online. I do not wish to bash critical
thinking, and our country's lack of skill certainly bears
March 2023
some of the blame for how easily conspiracy theories
can spread. However, the political economy of
bullshit is a systemic problem, and systemic problems
require systemic solutions. Whether the problem is
disinformation, climate change, or a pandemic, relying
on individual responsibility as a solution all but
guarantees failure. So, the big issue that Gehl and Lawson
fail to address is this: Anything relying on mass
manipulation, be it election interference, antivaccination
conspiracies, or future insurrections, is more
possible in a world where social media companies
are allowed to exist in their present form.
if maSSperSonal Social engineering is really the
societal threat that Gehl and Lawson say it is, then
we need to think harder about the systemic causes
that make it possible. Fortunately, there are steps
that our society can take to limit the power and
scope of platforms like Facebook, thereby reducing
the opportunity for disinformation campaigns and
masspersonal social engineering. We do not have to
allow corporations like Meta to grow so unfathomably
large. Contrary to what Meta and other social
media companies would like us to believe, we have
the power and the means to regulate their behavior.
We can interrupt this trend of radicalizing people for
profit, and, with any luck, protect our society from
mass delusion and subsequent destruction.
References
[1] K. Hao, " How Facebook got addicted to spreading
misinformation, " MIT Technol. Rev., Mar. 11, 2021.
[Online]. Available: https://www.technologyreview.
com/2021/03/11/1020600/facebook-responsible-aimisinformation/
[2]
C. Timberg, E. Dwoskin, and R. Albergotti, " Inside
Facebook, Jan. 6 violance fueled anger, regret over
missed warning signs, " The Washington Post, Oct. 22,
2021. [Online]. Available: https://www.washingtonpost.
com/technology/2021/10/22/jan-6-capitol-riot-facebook/
Nathaniel Knopf is a medical student at the
Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern
California, Los Angeles, CA 90033 USA.
Direct questions and comments about this
article to Nathaniel Knopf, Keck School of Medicine,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
90033 USA; nathanielknopf@gmail.com.
15
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IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2023
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