Should we trust Facebook since the creators made Filter bubbles without the public being aware?
Hello Eli Pariser! I’m very excited for you to come to our class because I did a presentation on some article and videos that reflect on one of your main topics; Filter Bubbles. I currently attend Bard High School Early College and hope that one day I can have a successful career in Emergency Medicine (preferably being a doctor). I chose to take Internet and Society expecting to learn new things about how society is being changed by the internet but I didn’t realize just how much the general public doesn’t understand about the internet and its effects. Interviews and articles about you have helped open my eyes so with that I say Welcome to our class!
While I was reading an article by Jasper Jackson, titled “Eli Pariser: activist whose filter bubble warnings presaged Trump and Brexit”, and a New York Times article named “Google and Facebook Face Criticism for Ads Targeting Racist Sentiments”, I started to become very interested in filter bubbles and how aspects of the internet should not be so heavily trusted. I, personally, did not know that Facebook had filter bubbles. A classmate of mine responded to the notion of filter bubbles by saying “I did not give Google or Facebook permission to use filter bubbles on my feed.” Once he said it, another classmate yelled out “Terms and Conditions!” Even though I’m not sure if Facebook did mention that they had the right to alter our feeds in the Terms and Conditions, I wonder why they didn’t just blatantly say that they would take out certain profiles or posts, from our feed, that they did not think we cared for. This also makes me think of what other things Facebook might do that we are not aware of, since Facebook has access to so many parts of our phones and lives in general. This brings me to my question for you; Should we trust Facebook since they made and use filter bubbles without most people knowing about it? This is also goes for Google or any form of social media since I’m sure that these websites do many things, like using filter bubbles, that they might not think is “bad” but does have negative effects.
