Frances Hogan, who has spoken out against Facebook, said in a written statement to the US Senate that "at this time, Facebook decides a...
Frances Hogan, who has spoken out against Facebook, said in a written statement to the US Senate that "at this time, Facebook decides at its own discretion what information to share with billions of people and what not." This is how people perceptions of reality change.
Hogan, a data scientist and former Facebook employee, accused the giant technology company of leaking inside documents to The Wall Street Journal and US law enforcement agencies that the company knew how. By prioritizing 'sustainable profits over safety', Facebook products are spreading hatred and harming children mental health.
Even people who are not Facebook users are affected by the extremism that arises in Facebook users. "The company that controls our deepest thoughts, feelings and attitudes needs real oversight."
Read: Online shopping or Sanam Bewafa
Hogan testified in the US Senate that the "immoral" company was pursuing harmful policies. Following the Senate action, the Wall Street Journal published a critical report accusing Facebook of ignoring its own research on the negative effects of its app Instagram on the health of teenagers.
Then Facebook quietly published an internal investigation after which the US Senate asked this multinational tech company many questions in a long hearing. Lawmakers and news outlets such as The Washington Post and Bloomberg are calling the move Facebook's Big Tobacco. Following the Senate hearing, a number of US news agencies have been publishing related news and articles, collectively known as the facebook papers.
Hogan was part of Facebook, but left when he found the tech company failing to address key issues, such as the spread of false information for profit, despite its capabilities. He called for the company to be regulated. "Facebook makes a profit at the expense of our security," says Hogan.
Hogan also revealed that Facebook presents content to users in a way that keeps users engaged, meaning they get more comments, likes and shares. "Facebook makes more money when you spend more content," he added. Social networking sites do not hesitate to use emotions to their advantage in order to increase engagement.
In 2012, Facebook conducted a controversial human research study that found that algorithms that automatically update the status of the news feeds of 689,003 users to assess the effects of emotional news feed tampering. I made changes. "The more irritating content is shown to consumers, the more time they spend on that content," Hogan said.
Read: Social media began to make us rude?
According to him, the company changed its content policies before the US election in 2020 and tried to stop the spread of false information by giving less priority to political content on its news feed.
However, after the riots in the US capital, the old algorithm, which prioritizes consumer engagement, was revived. Hogan says, "Since Facebook wanted the same product after the election, the company has started to adopt its own method." This is a very serious issue for me. "
Muhammad Umair, a research and development engineer based in Sweden, told EOS: "Most social media apps, including the Facebook News Feed, use basic algorithmic recommendation systems.
Websites typically use cookies to track the activities of their users and their past behavior. In the case of machine learning (these are algorithms that enhance their abilities based on data and experience, it is seen as a branch of artificial intelligence). Used to gauge the user's respective preferences or interests. The purpose of designing them was to ensure that consumers do not have to look for excessive options on online sources but now the system also serves the purpose of increasing the user engagement of websites or maximizing sales of different products. are going to.
Mohammad Umair says, "For example, when you search for a specific item on an online shopping portal like Amazon, you start to see its replacement or related equipment. When you watch a movie on Netflix, you are advised to watch other movies of similar nature. In this way, the apps ensure the engagement of the users.
Noman Khalid, founder, partner and chief data architect at Love For Data, a consulting firm that uses artificial intelligence and statistical learning tools for data science and decision making, says: The whole of social media is biased. When you use search engines, the 'Reset' in the results list shows you the results you want to see.
Read: Challenges or Benefits for Social Media Elections?
Khalid says, "If you or I search something right now, we will see the difference in the results of both." Every website that wants to sell you something or is interested in getting to know you starts collecting your data. How they store, process or monetize this data now depends on their own ethical and principled values.
The goal is to create an app or web page that is not easy for people to avoid. "Initially, Facebook was just a platform to share or view the moments of your life, capturing only statuses and photos," said Umair. Later, SnapChat introduced the Stories option, through which people started sharing snapshots of their daily life with others. This feature was later adopted by Instagram and Facebook too, so now we are leaving no stone unturned in sharing the moments of our lives with others.
Ali Madih Hashmi, a psychologist and professor at King Edward Medical University, says: Let go for a walk and look better in every way. "They probably forget that people share their favorite content on Facebook and Instagram," he says. People do not share their ugly pictures.
Hashmi adds that comparing people's worst days of their lives to the "best days" of people on Instagram pushes them towards depression. Constantly comparing other people lives with their own makes them more difficult.
According to Ali Madih Hashmi, "People usually show their best faces on online media to give the impression that they are satisfied and happy with their life which creates a feeling of 'deprivation' in you. ۔ But what kind of deprivation? It's difficult to say and decide. "
Read: Excessive use of social media can be dangerous, admits Facebook
Various studies have shown how excessive use of social media can lead to increased mental health issues or mental health problems, even leading some people to commit suicide. According to Hashmi, teenage girls are more sensitive to anatomical problems due to hormonal and cultural influences. As a result, when she spends a lot of time on social media, she sees filtered and select pictures of showbiz personalities, which weakens her personal reputation.
Shehzoor Hashmi, a clinical psychologist, says: "This is especially true of teenage girls, because on the one hand they are going through the first changes and on the other hand they start comparing themselves with others. People are starting to feel inferior by comparing themselves to those who seem to have a better life on social media.
Ali Madih Hashmi concludes that although all these sources have revolutionized the field of communication, business, health and politics, they would create such a system using technology and information on general consumer attitudes. As a result, you start spending more and more of your time on the website or app. The more time you spend, the more the app developers benefit because they literally 'sell' your time to advertisers.
Noman Khalid says, "How do we know that the app we use the most is running us on the screen at its own pace?" If you delete a social media app from your phone, your social media feeds will change after a few weeks, because that app is unable to retrieve data from your phone. There is a need for greater awareness of what these social media platforms can achieve, how they work and what harm they are causing us.
No comments
Thanks