POLICING THE INTERNET – How Social media is not only destroying Democracy but Common Morality and what can we do about it to better navigate the tightrope between safety and privacy?
The Internet is the pinnacle of modern technology. It has been touted as the great equalizer designed to provide quick and accurate information to the populace. When and why did it decay into a swamp of indecency and divisiveness?
Throughout history, the cutting edges of science and technology frequently brought inventions and innovations into widespread use before laws and policies could be created to govern and regulate them. Those aiming to ensure that new technologies are not used to forward abusive or exploitative aims are constantly a step behind the development of the technology itself. The unwritten rules which foster freedom of thought and innovation are delicate, and societies which value democratic ideals should form a consensus which firms up what is now a very soft-handed approach to governing the Internet. Like tolerance, free speech and expression require fierce advocates and moral defenders. The more beautiful and delicate a practice or behavior, the more vigilance it requires to guard it. At its best, the Internet represents free expression and enlightenment, and it is no coincidence that these are the very concepts most warmly embraced by democratic societies.
The very foundation of the Internet is under attack. Technology has a tendency to shift cultural values at a rapid pace and sometimes uncontrollably, and this can lead to a rapid shift in public opinions and even practices. The Industrial Revolution provides a poignant historical example.
Currently, deft users are able to extract and analyze data at a micro and macro level and make determinations that can affect entire countries. Polarization and social manipulation at a personal level can be achieved with manipulation of big data, through divisive topics specifically designed to elicit a certain emotional response, and can drive wedges between even the closest of friends.
It is a common technique in manipulative psychology to elicit emotion in the subconscious. Conscious feelings have traditionally been viewed as a central and necessary ingredient of emotion. Positive and negative reactions can be provoked subliminally and remain inaccessible to introspection. Subliminally-induced affective reactions still influence people’s preference judgments and even the amount they “voluntarily” drink. (Unconscious Emotion , Piotr Winkielman and Kent C. BerridgeCurrent Directions in Psychological Science,Vol 13, Issue 3, pp. 120–123, First Published June 1, 2004, First Published June 1, 2004)
At a larger scale, this fact can be manipulated to keep a person or group in a negative mood. If used properly, intrusive thoughts have the power to negatively amplify mood more substantially in people with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, anxiety, and depression. (Comparison of positive and negative intrusive thoughts and experimental investigation of the differential effects of mood,Martina Reynolds Paul M.Salkovskis ,Behaviour Research and Therapy,Volume 30, Issue 3, May 1992, Pages 273–281)
Many have studied the political effects of the polarization, and the results speak for themselves. However, I don’t think the data provide a truly objective picture of the polarization and mood manipulation which occur via social media and the Internet. To truly understand the subject and devise a solution, we must dive into the taboo, unpalatable corners of the Internet and social media that most others will not.
Some of these topics are graphic in nature and are indeed designed to elicit a strong emotional response in some way. The far-right, anti-fascist, normalization of pedophilia, sexual & financial domination are all just a small sample of the labels and topics that further drive a wedge in between individuals, groups, and the sexes in general.
Lets begin.
Out of only 2000 tweets scraping the hashtags #femdom, #footdom , #findom, #domme , #slave , #mandom , #sissy , #slavelife , #humiliation, we find 1350 user names found with 5949 ties . The largest node is whom the graphic above shows, the different colors show the different hashtags.
He accounts for 41.9 of the posts made by the Top 10 posters.
#findom being the most popular word with the highest frequency, means financial domination. Women are sent money and lavished with expensive gifts by men who want next-to-nothing in return — it’s all about submitting to the dominant woman and relinquishing control over your finances.(https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/love-sex/findom-what-is-it-financial-domination-definition-explained-a7646931.html)
This shows 9981 tweets representing the different groups of disinformation surrounding President Trump. 2677 posters with 24332 ties. The different colors represent users like Julian Assange, RT, Cassandra Fairbanks, Jack Posobiec, James Woods, WikiLeaks , Tucker Carlson .
This graph shows the flow of information from Wikileaks and RT into influential far right accounts, where it is collected , made into a narrative and shipped back out to the masses.
Next we have the topic of pedophilia and supporters of its normalization. In this instance, users eschew hashtags in favor of key words, coding, and imagery as honeypots of sorts.
Enderphile, is a great example. He has been permanently banned since 2014, but nonetheless consistently pops up. His very divisive case is discussed here in ‘Vice’: https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/zmwn43/social-media-sites-cant-decide-how-to-handle-non-offending-pedophiles
Effective and responsible policy to protect children from online sex offenders must be comprehensive and integrative in nature. Policy should be based on multiple guardians around the child, reducing opportunities for predators, and convincing predators that the anticipated benefits from the offense are not worth the risks of arrest and confinement. Responsibility starts with parents, and continues with the education system, the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other businesses. Further responsibility extends to individual states and the international community at large. (p. 196–197 ,The Howard Journal Vol 52 No 2. May 2013 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12006 ISSN 0265–5527, pp. 190–215, Online Child Sex Offenders: Challenges and Counter-Measures RAPHAEL COHEN-ALMAGOR)
These topics and many others are all exploited to tear at the fabric of our morality and decency. They elicit emotions that can be amplified by existing conditions in our heads, and should be dealt with on a case by case and a regional basis instead of just blanket policy. It takes community for a country to function, and without community, a nation loses its very meaning and purpose. Hillary Clinton’s famous catchphrase “it takes a village” applies in this case. Proposed solutions will require a multifaceted response from a lot of industries, parent groups, and government itself.
What if these topics are not random occurring? But are all part of a heavily leveraged social weapon aimed straight between our eyes? Judging by the last one used against us it could easily be modified to accommodate other topics outside of politics. What if it has already been leveraged and used to exploit common social controversial issues?(List of controversial issues: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:List_of_controversial_issues) . Exploitation leads to upgrades in systems exploited, so we can expect technology to evolve to deal with the problem. Things like increased analytics to monitor social trends will rise, and include new algorithms driven by the precision of big data and Artificial Intelligence. Twitter and other Social Networks will shift to a report driven model which supports those algorithms and away from their previous reporting models. Such techniques can be used to identify troublesome, and potentially violent or suicidal users, and will be used to contact the necessary authorities. This may sound like a variant of ‘Minority Report,’ but I believe it is much preferable to the reactionary efforts currently in place. The ultimate goal is for lives to be saved rather than mourned after tragedies.
