Hi Fred, The article you linked to opens with a description of how fascist ideologues and their billionaire supporters have been hijacking social media algorithms to keep us all ignorant and fighting one another.
The article argues that Musk and Zuck have essentially privatized the digital public sphere, and uses the terms algorithmic amplification and neoliberal algorithmic dictatorship to describe how they push their fascist propaganda down our throats. The article says: "The left must adopt a digital agenda that prioritises democratising platform governance". But *HOW* do we do this? All efforts boil down to a combination of either: (1) government regulation, or (2) creating something ourselves. The article makes suggestions, including: Public and social ownership of platforms: Social networks should be treated as essential critical infrastructures - like water or energy networks - and be subject to public control. Like public radio and television services, social networks should be publicly funded and guided by public-interest criteria, not by the logic of profit and surveillance. Democratic and transparent regulation: State regulation of major digital platforms must go beyond content moderation or data protection, imposing obligations of algorithmic transparency, limits on ownership concentration, and clear rules on editorial responsibility. Democratic management: Instead of unilateral decisions made by techno-oligarchs with their own ideological agendas, social media governance should be shared, transparent and democratically accountable. "Algorithmic self-management" should enter the political vocabulary of anyone who defends a free and fair internet. But the article then mentions that there is a paradox of depending on the government to regulate the capitalists--because the capitalists own the government--and they don't want to regulate themselves. The article then says we need "citizen-created alternative and decentralized infrastructures for organized political resistance". Or, in simpler terms, we need our own damn platform--and it must be something that cannot be hijacked. It just so happens that I have been writing about exactly such a thing. My essay is posted here: http://communism.org/node/4058 If you have a few minutes to look at it, I would be quite interested in your thoughts. Ben Seattle [cid:[email protected]] _____________________________________________ Fred Fuentes wrote: > Paulo Antunes Ferreira makes the case for why > we need to urgently dismantle the neoliberal > algorithmic dictatorship of techno-oligarchs. https://links.org.au/techno-oligarchs-are-using-social-media-normalise-fascism -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#41941): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/41941 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/119590226/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
