Imagine there is a public speaking square in your city, much like the ancient Greek agora.
Here you’re free to freely share your ideas without censorship.
But theres one key difference.
Someone decides, for their own economic benefit, who gets to listen to what speech or which speaker.
And this isnt disclosed when you enter, either.
Would this truly be free speech?
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Rather, algorithms decide what content is shown and in which order.
Inour research, weve termed this algorithmic audiencing.
And we believe it warrants a closer look at the debate about how free speech is practiced online.
Free speech is essential to a functioning democracy.
Do you believe Twitter rigorously adheres to this principle?
Outside the social media debate, free speech is commonly understood as the free trade of ideas.
Speech is about discourse, not merely the right to speak.
This is done by design, based on a platforms monetization logic.
This explains why some users have large audiences while others with similar ideasare barely noticed.
Those who speak to the algorithm achieve the widest circulation of their ideas.
This is akin tolarge-scale social engineering.
At the same time, the workings of Facebooks and Twittersalgorithms remain largely opaque.
How it interferes with free speech
Algorithmic audiencing has a material effect on public discourse.
So far, this kind of interference in free speech has been overlooked, because its unprecedented.
It was not possible in traditional media.
And it is relatively recent for social media as well.
Only in the past five years has algorithmic audiencing really become a widespread issue.
What can be done?
Very important to fix your Twitter feed:
1.
Tap stars on upper right of screen.3.
You are being manipulated by the algorithm in ways you dont realize.
Easy to switch back & forth to see the difference.
Its the same casewith Instagram(which is also owned by Facebooks parent company, Meta).
And we also know only a fraction of users ever changetheir default options.
In the end, regulation is required.
Algorithmic audiencing constitutes a breach of this privilege.
no it wasnt designed to manipulate.
it was designed to catch you up and work off what you engage with.
that can def have unintended consequences tho.
simple solution to all this.
