Twitter Takeover and the Social Media Problem
Forget censorship, it’s a restriction of trade we should worry about
More than half the planet — 4.62 billion people — use social media.
Minutes after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the platform was flooded with vile posts akin to 4chan. (No, I won’t be providing a link).
The Musk fiasco demonstrates the underlying problem of social media moderation — an algorithm that pushes the platform’s preferred content to viewers while concealing the rest — all performed in the background with the formula hidden from users.
No one knows what specific policies will be applied because those are never made public. These actions are often concealed under vague descriptions such as “violation of community guidelines” — that is if the user is notified at all.
Moderators who work for these social media giants usually sign non-disclosure forms prior to employment. Despite the legal grey area surrounding the enforcement of such agreements, few want to take on a battle with a global behemoth like Meta where the best outcome would be a settlement with an enforceable gag order.
When a problem does occur, there is no avenue of redress. The user may not even be notified that their content is restricted. No human is…
