It allows Instagram,TikTok and the rest of the platforms to disavow responsibility for content that has been proven to be extremely harmful, especially to teenage girls.
Okay, but if we make them legally liable for all content published, we make it impossible for them to operate, since they'd be sued out of existence in a heartbeat. This is only a solution if you're okay with shutting down social media. That's a stance one could take, I guess.
Not really. Comments aren’t influenced by an algorithm. They are what they are. They’re mostly a dumpster fire but at least they’re not a phony construct.
If you get rid of 230, unless you already have a new law passed and in place, then websites will almost certainly be liable for whatever they publish, full stop, algorithms or no algorithms. What do you think the chances are of passing a good law right now?
But it does affect comment sections since a spam filter is an algorithm. So you would be killing spam filters.
Also filters for words a website disagrees with. Say you run a website and don’t want someone to say the n-word, so you flag any comment that has it. That’s an algorithm.
Who gets to define what is harmful? Because lawsuits will also be filed by people we don't agree with, who will claim that, for example, young people are harmed by seeing content that presents being gay and/or trans in a positive light.
Ok. So what is a legally defined harmful algorithm then? How do you define a social media site?
What happens when someone like Musk gets control over what he defines as harmful? What if he comes in and says “Any website algorithm that allows the words ‘Jewish’ is now harmful”?
Because I think Bluesky doesn’t engage in the same practices as the others I’ve mentioned. And yes, like many others, I deleted my Twitter and Instagram accounts.
We’ve been able to engage in this conversation without any of us hurling a pejorative.
And no Nazi crap forced into my timeline! Nice.
Comments
Also filters for words a website disagrees with. Say you run a website and don’t want someone to say the n-word, so you flag any comment that has it. That’s an algorithm.
What happens when someone like Musk gets control over what he defines as harmful? What if he comes in and says “Any website algorithm that allows the words ‘Jewish’ is now harmful”?
You should delete all your social media accounts and show the way.
We’ve been able to engage in this conversation without any of us hurling a pejorative.
And no Nazi crap forced into my timeline! Nice.