{"tag":"open-source","articles":{"blog\/technology\/social-media-as-a-public-service":{"key":"blog\/technology\/social-media-as-a-public-service","type":"article","published":true,"meta":{"createdAt":"2024-07-29T14:04:08+00:00","publishedAt":"2024-07-29T14:04:08+00:00","group":null,"category":"blog","subcategory":"technology","slug":"social-media-as-a-public-service"},"content":{"en":{"slug":"social-media-as-a-public-service","title":"Social Media as a Public Service","intro":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\n                \u003Cnoscript\u003E\n                    \u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_small.png\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022 class=\u0022border-bottom\u0022 width=\u0022480\u0022 height=\u0022270\u0022\u003E                \n                \u003C\/noscript\u003E\n                \u003Cspan class=\u0022hide-noscript\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022data:image\/png;base64,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\u0022 data-src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_small.png\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022 class=\u0022border-bottom\u0022 width=\u0022480\u0022 height=\u0022270\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n                \n            \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a software developer I can\u0027t help but look at all the issues plaguing social media and think that\n\u003Cem\u003Esurely\u003C\/em\u003E they can be fixed with code somehow \u2013 we just need a cool distributed protocol or something, right?\nBut the thing is, no amount of techy magic is going to help here, because the problems are not technical \u2013\nthey\u0027re policy issues.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","content":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\n                \u003Cnoscript\u003E\n                    \u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_big.png\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022 class=\u0022border\u0022 width=\u0022960\u0022 height=\u0022540\u0022\u003E                \n                \u003C\/noscript\u003E\n                \u003Cspan class=\u0022hide-noscript\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022data:image\/png;base64,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\u0022 data-src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_big.png\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022 class=\u0022border\u0022 width=\u0022960\u0022 height=\u0022540\u0022\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\n                \n            \u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a software developer I can\u0027t help but look at all the issues plaguing social media and think that\n\u003Cem\u003Esurely\u003C\/em\u003E they can be fixed with code somehow \u2013 we just need a cool distributed protocol or something, right?\nBut the thing is, no amount of techy magic is going to help here, because the problems are not technical \u2013\nthey\u0027re policy issues.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETry to think of a big issue with social media that \u003Cem\u003Ecan\u0027t\u003C\/em\u003E be tracked back to its flawed business model.\nOf course we\u0027re gonna get addicted to doom scrolling, if algorithms optimise our feed for maximum engagement.\nOf course it will be plagued with misinformation and polarising, hateful content, if that\u0027s what drives engagement.\nOf course the big tech won\u0027t do more than absolutely necessary to deal with all the toxic stuff and AI-generated trash\non their servers, if removing that content directly reduces their advertisement revenue.\nOf course big tech is gonna sell and abuse as much of our private data as the regulations allow them \u2013\nas long as it brings them their billions.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut imagine if simply we took away the whole incentive to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Enshittification\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E enshittify\u003C\/a\u003E\nthe Internet? What if we took ads out of the equation? What if we took \u003Cem\u003Ethe profit incentive\u003C\/em\u003E out of the equation\nand started treating social media as a public service?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe already treat a bunch of other media as public services after all: we have public TV broadcasters, public radio stations,\nrarer, but still, publicly owned press\u2026 We\u0027re fine paying taxes in order to receive professional services\naccessible to everyone and under democratic control. We see how much power the conventional media has to shape public opinion,\nso we don\u0027t want it all in the hands of big corporations. I\u0027d argue that for social media this is \u003Cem\u003Eeven more\u003C\/em\u003E important.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERunning a social media page is no small enterprise \u2013 but the EU has more than enough resources to pull it off.\nAnd judging from how strongly have they been going after big tech for their monopolistic and anti-privacy practices,\nthere would likely be a political will do accomplish it too.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EImagine that\u2026 every EU resident gets their own virtual space: some storage space, a subdomain, an email address,\na simple website builder with blogging and commenting capabilities. It could use \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/activitypub\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Csvg class=\u0022icon\u0022\u003E\u003Cuse xlink:href=\u0022#light-link\u0022\u003E\u003C\/use\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E ActivityPub\u003C\/a\u003E\nor its own new protocol to federalise those blogs. Instead of creating a Gmail account owned by Google,\nand a Facebook account owned by Meta, and a Twitter account owned by Musk, etc. etc.,\nyou could just create an account \u003Cem\u003Eowned by you\u003C\/em\u003E \u2013 with the infrastructure maintained and the content moderated\nby the state, just like it now does with other kinds of infrastructure, from roads to radio waves.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe could go back to the early days of the Internet before big tech swooped in and monopolised the mainstream.\nBack to the times where people owned the stuff they posted \u2013 except make it easily accessible even to non-techies.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt shouldn\u0027t even be hard to get a critical mass of users on the platform \u2013 just make it as good as Facebook or Twitter\n(what a depressingly low bar!) but make it completely free and without any ads or \u201cthe algorithm\u201d \u2013 who wouldn\u0027t switch?\nOffering an alternative to big tech\u0027s vision of the Internet wouldn\u0027t really kill big tech \u2013 but it would definitely\nforce it to do better and compete with user- and privacy-friendly alternatives.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf you don\u0027t want your page stored by the government, you can host it yourself \u2013 but still reap the benefits\nof the open-source website creator and federating with the network. If you don\u0027t want to use the website builder,\nwrite your own page and implement the open protocol on it (or not). If you prefer to use your space for something\ndifferent, just do that instead. You can have all the freedom of corporation-free Internet,\nwithout needed the technical know-how to set it all up.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EObviously, accomplishing that wouldn\u0027t be easy. It costs to run a social media portal \u2013 just like it costs\nto maintain roads or run radio stations. Social media requires moderation \u2013 just like road safety requires\ntraffic rules and vehicle registration. Moderation rules and decisions would be just as controversial as today \u2013\nbut at least controlled democratically and not by a faceless corporate entity.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt might not be easy. But if we do it right, it could be soooo worth it!\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Csvg xmlns=\u0022http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\u0022 style=\u0022display: none;\u0022\u003E\u003C\/svg\u003E","tags":["internet","social media","policy","eu","open-source"],"hasMore":true,"image":"https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_small.png","introLite":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_big.png\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_mini.png\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022 width=\u0022240\u0022 height=\u0022135\u0022 loading=\u0022lazy\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a software developer I can\u0027t help but look at all the issues plaguing social media and think that\n\u003Cem\u003Esurely\u003C\/em\u003E they can be fixed with code somehow \u2013 we just need a cool distributed protocol or something, right?\nBut the thing is, no amount of techy magic is going to help here, because the problems are not technical \u2013\nthey\u0027re policy issues.\u003C\/p\u003E","contentLite":"\u003Cfigure\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_big.png\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E\u003Cimg src=\u0022https:\/\/avris.it\/image\/social-media-public-service_mini.png\u0022 alt=\u0022\u0022 width=\u0022240\u0022 height=\u0022135\u0022 loading=\u0022lazy\u0022\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/figure\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs a software developer I can\u0027t help but look at all the issues plaguing social media and think that\n\u003Cem\u003Esurely\u003C\/em\u003E they can be fixed with code somehow \u2013 we just need a cool distributed protocol or something, right?\nBut the thing is, no amount of techy magic is going to help here, because the problems are not technical \u2013\nthey\u0027re policy issues.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ETry to think of a big issue with social media that \u003Cem\u003Ecan\u0027t\u003C\/em\u003E be tracked back to its flawed business model.\nOf course we\u0027re gonna get addicted to doom scrolling, if algorithms optimise our feed for maximum engagement.\nOf course it will be plagued with misinformation and polarising, hateful content, if that\u0027s what drives engagement.\nOf course the big tech won\u0027t do more than absolutely necessary to deal with all the toxic stuff and AI-generated trash\non their servers, if removing that content directly reduces their advertisement revenue.\nOf course big tech is gonna sell and abuse as much of our private data as the regulations allow them \u2013\nas long as it brings them their billions.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut imagine if simply we took away the whole incentive to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Enshittification\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E enshittify\u003C\/a\u003E\nthe Internet? What if we took ads out of the equation? What if we took \u003Cem\u003Ethe profit incentive\u003C\/em\u003E out of the equation\nand started treating social media as a public service?\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe already treat a bunch of other media as public services after all: we have public TV broadcasters, public radio stations,\nrarer, but still, publicly owned press\u2026 We\u0027re fine paying taxes in order to receive professional services\naccessible to everyone and under democratic control. We see how much power the conventional media has to shape public opinion,\nso we don\u0027t want it all in the hands of big corporations. I\u0027d argue that for social media this is \u003Cem\u003Eeven more\u003C\/em\u003E important.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERunning a social media page is no small enterprise \u2013 but the EU has more than enough resources to pull it off.\nAnd judging from how strongly have they been going after big tech for their monopolistic and anti-privacy practices,\nthere would likely be a political will do accomplish it too.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EImagine that\u2026 every EU resident gets their own virtual space: some storage space, a subdomain, an email address,\na simple website builder with blogging and commenting capabilities. It could use \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/activitypub\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener\u0022\u003E ActivityPub\u003C\/a\u003E\nor its own new protocol to federalise those blogs. Instead of creating a Gmail account owned by Google,\nand a Facebook account owned by Meta, and a Twitter account owned by Musk, etc. etc.,\nyou could just create an account \u003Cem\u003Eowned by you\u003C\/em\u003E \u2013 with the infrastructure maintained and the content moderated\nby the state, just like it now does with other kinds of infrastructure, from roads to radio waves.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe could go back to the early days of the Internet before big tech swooped in and monopolised the mainstream.\nBack to the times where people owned the stuff they posted \u2013 except make it easily accessible even to non-techies.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt shouldn\u0027t even be hard to get a critical mass of users on the platform \u2013 just make it as good as Facebook or Twitter\n(what a depressingly low bar!) but make it completely free and without any ads or \u201cthe algorithm\u201d \u2013 who wouldn\u0027t switch?\nOffering an alternative to big tech\u0027s vision of the Internet wouldn\u0027t really kill big tech \u2013 but it would definitely\nforce it to do better and compete with user- and privacy-friendly alternatives.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf you don\u0027t want your page stored by the government, you can host it yourself \u2013 but still reap the benefits\nof the open-source website creator and federating with the network. If you don\u0027t want to use the website builder,\nwrite your own page and implement the open protocol on it (or not). If you prefer to use your space for something\ndifferent, just do that instead. You can have all the freedom of corporation-free Internet,\nwithout needed the technical know-how to set it all up.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EObviously, accomplishing that wouldn\u0027t be easy. It costs to run a social media portal \u2013 just like it costs\nto maintain roads or run radio stations. Social media requires moderation \u2013 just like road safety requires\ntraffic rules and vehicle registration. Moderation rules and decisions would be just as controversial as today \u2013\nbut at least controlled democratically and not by a faceless corporate entity.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIt might not be easy. But if we do it right, it could be soooo worth it!\u003C\/p\u003E","words":726,"readTime":3,"lang":"en"}}}}}