Social networks have quickly become an important part of western democracy. They are plagued by fake news & companies who manipulate big data, and the recent revelations about Facebook and Cambridge Analytica are deeply disturbing. But it’s important to remember they have also given the public unprecedented access to independent news, media, NGOs, campaign groups and charities.
Television and print media are just as problematic as social media when it comes to dubious news and …playing on peoples’ fears. I think the answer is more democratisation of these industries, not a total boycott (which would deprive many wonderful movements of the platforms necessary to exact positive changes in the world).
As we become more aware of the dangers of sharing personal data with a small corporate elite, I think there’s hope for a new model of social media. Platforms like Mastodon and Social Coop are a step in the right direction, it’s time we get behind a more cooperative model, leaving state-owned media and corporate monopolies on the scrap heap of history.
