Annie serves as Research Associate in the Center for Technology Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Lauren Culbertson, Head Of U.S. Public Policy for Twitter, makes an opening statement during a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on April 27, 2021 in Washington, D.C. Tasos Katopodis-Pool / Getty Images
Key Takeaways
The Big Tech companies consistently hide behind their algorithms when called to account for inconsistent content moderation and account suspension.
None of the companies would admit that they thrive on users having these negative emotions and patterns, and most likely never will.
Big Tech is likely to face growing calls for legislation and/or regulation. That’s a consequence of their own making.
Commentary By
Annelise Butler is a research associate in the Center for Technology Policy at The Heritage Foundation.
The Big Tech companies consistently hide behind their algorithms when called to account for inconsistent content moderation and account suspension.
Such was the case when the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology, and the law on April 27 held a hearing titled “Algorithms and Amplification: How Social Media Platforms’ Design Choices Shape Our Discourse and Our Minds.”
Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have been accused of intentionally designing their algorithms to promote and amplify certain content, while hiding or even suspending other content for no specified reason.
Google updates in-SERP travel planning tools as well
Carolyn Lyden on April 29, 2021 at 10:00 am
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Good morning, Marketers, and are you the kind of person who needs background noise to work?
I’m the kind of person who relishes working in absolute silence. Maybe I need to hear the cogs of my own brain turning in order to sort things out, but there’s nothing like listening to just … nothing. My partner, on the other hand, is a verbal processor. In order to work through things, he has to talk through them. Opposites attract?
The algorithms driving social media platforms are some of the most powerful on the planet, shaping what billions of people read and watch on a daily basis. Understandably, those algorithms are under increasing scrutiny, including from Congress as it looks for ways to rein in that power.
On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee convened to ask platform representatives some pointed questions about harmful viral content, polarization and the incentives driving this algorithmically governed media world we all now inhabit.
Defending their platforms, representatives from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube coalesced around a couple of common retorts to deflect the pressure: user control and platform transparency.