This week on On The Media, I listened to the segment called "Facebook Throws Out the Rule Book". It was interesting for me to listen to because of the impact that Facebook has on my everyday life. They covered the issue of the decision that Facebook made to delete the post by Norwegian writer, Tom Egeland. He posted a series of photos that he thought changed the history of warfare. The reason for deleting it, is because it included a picture of a 9 year old little girl, Kim Phuc, running down the war struck streets of Vietnam. The only issue with the picture is that Phuc is seen running naked. Facebook's "robots" flagged this as nudity and immediately removed the post even though it is an important photograph in our world's history.
Facebook users immediately began attacking Mark Zuckerberg for the removal of the post. Users are claiming that he is abusing his power and trying to filter what is seen on this social media platform. After searching Facebook, many posts appeared regarding the issue.
After the article was removed, Norway's largest newspaper released an article regarding Facebook's censorship and it also included the photo of the "Naplam Girl". Soon after it was posted, Facebook removed this article as well.
"Naplam Girl"
In the show, they talked about how Facebook has changed human behavior and media consumptionon a grand scale. None of this information would have been so readily available before Facebook. Our world has become completely dependent on Facebook, and it leaves many people wondering why they can't do better. But in all reality, we will never be able to get all Facebook users to agree. Our world and culture has become so mentally addicted to this platform, that we would not be able to function without it.
As a millennial, I use Facebook every single day. It is something that my generation revolves around. It has become part of my culture. Facebook has made it so that everyday tasks, like wishing a friend a happy birthday, all the way to trying to find a place to live can all be done in one place. Chances are, without Facebook, I wouldn't even see war images like this. It has almost become socially unacceptable to not have a Facebook. Incidents like this come and go, but Facebook will never lose. They have created something that the human race now depends on.
That last ominous statement raised goosebumps on my arms. You mention facebook specifically but it can definitely be broadened to social media in general. I definitely agree with you that humans are now dependent on it. I think we've all asked ourselves at one point in our life, "how did our parents/grandparents manage without it?" It brings a lot of benefits to us, but of course, at a price. These algorithms can have a huge impact on us without us even realizing it. That's quite scary to think about. That we don't have complete control. It helps to remember, as they pointed out in the show that algorithms are coded by people. So for Facebook to place blame on the algorithms alone isn't completely right. I think a balance between human and machine would be a great solution. Not perfect, as nothing can be, but at least we could ditch bias and also be able to make human choice where needed. Great post Annie!
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