With the approach of the presidential election, which favors political debates
within the population, it should be remembered that social networks are no morepolitically neutral than traditional media. The absence of an editor or editorialline is just a facade: algorithms do dictate what type of content is favored.---- We have already addressed several times in Alternative Libertaire the deeplypolitical role played by the social networks developed by the surveillancecapitalists (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, but also their more recent competitorslike TikTok or Snapchat). Even if Mark Zuckerberg continues to affirm loud andclear that Facebook and Instagram are neutral and without bias, we have known fora long time that this is false.The emblematic example of recent years is the censorship of the President of theUnited States of America, Donald Trump, in the last days of his mandate, despitehis apparent position as the most powerful man on the planet, but we must alsoremember that social movements, trade unions, collective struggle, independentmedia are regularly censored and see their pages closed without any other form oftrial [1].Surveillance revenueBut censorship is only the tip of the iceberg. The political control exercised bythese networks is much more insidious. The sole motivation of bosses likeZuckerberg and their shareholders is profit; their rents come from advertisingrevenues; the latter are generated by displays and clicks on links dotting thepages, threads, walls.To be as effective as possible, these advertising links are chosen in a targetedmanner according to the profiling of the Internet user carried out by thecompany's artificial intelligence [2]. Using the capabilities of modern computingto profile each individual, predict and then influence their behaviors, andultimately enrich themselves every step of the way is called surveillancecapitalism, in which corporations like Google and Facebook are the champions.To generate maximum profits, these companies therefore have an interest infavoring pages that attract an audience, preferably an easily predictableaudience that will actually click on the advertising links (the clicks bring inmore than the simple display). The most predictable audience is the audience youtouch on an emotional level, the audience you provoke, the audience you shock.The questions that affect as many people as possible are societal questions,current affairs, interpretations of news items.These two elements taken together explain why the social networks of surveillancecapitalism promote, among other things, far-right fake news and conspiracytheories; a provocative analysis of a news item rarely tells the truth, and yetit is the one that will bring in the most money!Tolerance for " superspreaders "Several studies show this. For example, we learn in an article in the journalScience that false information is 70% more likely to be shared on Twitter.Another example: a leaked internal Facebook study reveals that the company isable to detect the spread of false information and even so-called " superspreader" nodes (the accounts and pages that contribute the most to the virality of thisinformation), but has explicitly decided not to block these accounts [3].Conversely, Facebook has reportedly blocked the accounts of six academics workingon spreading news on the platform [4]despite their study showing that fake newsspreads there up to six times faster than a year ago [5].Far-right content is not favored out of malice or to obey some sinister plot ;they are favored because (surveillance) capitalism simply demands ever more(surveillance) income. No far-right conspiracy then, but all the same a politicalchoice (capitalist!): that of favoring income at the expense of information,debate, society. Understanding this mechanism is essential to calmly address theissue of social networks and their political weight.No, today's digital world is not favorable to our camp. And it won't be as longas surveillance capitalism remains its economic model.However, it is of course not a question of deserting the digital field andleaving it entirely at the mercy of our political adversaries. The Internet (andthe exchanges through it) can also allow a certain number of people to come outof their isolation and to build ties, in particular when they are part ofminority groups.This is why it is important to promote alternatives that do not depend oncapitalists (self-hosted forums, decentralized free networks like Mastodon,etc.), while remaining aware that our ground, the one where we " play from homeis not and will probably never be that of the social network, but that of thesocial struggle.UCL Bookshop CommissionTWITTER ACKNOWLEDGES FOSTERING RIGHT-WING SPEECHIn a study commissioned by the company itself, and made public on October 21,2021 ("Algorithmic Amplification of Politics on Twitter ", available online), itwas demonstrated (or confirmed, it depends) that the algorithms recommendationsof this social network favor the speeches of politicians, politicians andright-wing media. Millions of messages ("tweets") were analyzed, originating fromthe following seven countries: France, Germany, Canada, Spain, United States,Japan and United Kingdom. In all these countries except Germany, the rightappears to be favoured.A few questions remain: why is Germany an exception? Is the report's conclusionthat extreme political discourse is not given more prominence than moderatepolitical discourse reliable? Doesn't the " transparency" approach that led tothe publication of this study have hidden motivations - fear that an embargo onthe text will trigger a vocation as a launcher or whistleblower, an attempt topass formore virtuous than the competing Facebook network?Leo (UCL Lyon)To validate[1] "Strength(s) with Facebook" , Libertarian Alternative , January 2021.[2] "If it's free, are you producing?" , Libertarian Alternative , September 2019.[3] "Facebook measured the impact of misinformation on the pandemic ",Infobref.com , October 31, 2021.https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Reseaux-sociaux-fausse-neutralite-vraie-desinformation_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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