I normally don’t follow politics because politics doesn’t really follow me – it tends to stalk me instead. Yet today, with social media in the headline, I paid attention – because it’s not just politics involved. There’s artificial intelligence as well, or what is accused of it.
From the first article:
A US federal judge has limited the Biden administration’s communications with social media companies which are aimed at moderating their content.
In a 155-page ruling on Tuesday, judge Terry Doughty barred White House officials and some government agencies from contacting firms over “content containing protected free speech”.
It is a victory for Republicans who have accused officials of censorship.
Democrats said the platforms have failed to address misinformation.
The case was one of the most closely-watched First Amendment battles in the US courts, sparking a debate over the government’s role in moderating content which it deemed to be false or harmful…
“Biden officials must limit contact with social media firms“, BBC News, Annabelle Liang, 5th July, 2023.
By itself, it’s pretty damning for the Democrats, who like the Republicans, aren’t my favorite people in the world. It isn’t an either/or proposition, but it’s usually simplified to that so that both sides keep reading for advertising.
Now here’s the second article.
Evidence of potential human rights abuses may be lost after being deleted by tech companies, the BBC has found.
Platforms remove graphic videos, often using artificial intelligence – but footage that may help prosecutions can be taken down without being archived.
Meta and YouTube say they aim to balance their duties to bear witness and protect users from harmful content.
But Alan Rusbridger, who sits on Meta’s Oversight Board, says the industry has been “overcautious” in its moderation…
“AI: War crimes evidence erased by social media platforms“, BBC Global Disinformation Team, Jack Goodman and Maria Korenyuk, 1 June 2023.
The artificial intelligence angle is from a month ago. The political angle dealing with Democrats and Republicans (oh my!) is today, because of the Federal Judge’s ruling. Both deal with content being removed on social media.
The algorithms on social media removing content related to Ukraine is not something new when it comes to Meta, because yours truly spent time in Facebook jail for posting an obvious parody of a Ukrainian tractor pulling the Moskov – before it was sunk. It labeled it as false information, which of course it was – it was a parody, and any gullible idiot who thought a Ukrainian tractor was pulling the Moskov deserves to be made fun of.
Clearly, the Moskov would need 2 Ukrainian tractors to pull it. See? Again, comedic.
These stories are connected in that the whole idea of ‘fake news’ and ‘trusted information’ has been politicized just about everywhere, and by politicized I also mean polarized. Even in Trinidad and Tobago, politicians use the phrases as if they are magical things one can pull out of… an orifice.
Algorithms, where they are blaming AI, are injecting their own bias by removing and leaving some content. Is some of this related to the ruling about Biden officials? I imagine it is. How much of a part of it is debatable – yet, during Covid, people were spreading a lot of fake news that worked against the public interests related to health.
The political angle had a Federal Court intervene. No such thing has happened with the artificial angle. That’s disturbing.
Looks like getting beyond Code 2.0 is becoming more important, or more late. What you see in the echo chambers of social media are just red dots, shining on the things others want us to see, and not necessarily the right things.