Updated: Stuff’s bold clarion call.
Moralists invented hell so they could inflict cruelty with a clear conscience, according to Bertrand Russell. I think technocrats invented social media so they could inflict untold damage with no conscience at all.
Yesterday, Stuff put a hold of all activity with the social media giant Facebook and its associated platform Instagram as a reaction to that indifference.
The trial applies across all titles owned by New Zealand’s largest news publisher. It is a big call: Nearly 953,000 people follow Stuff’s news Facebook page, 134,000 follow its Instagram account, and it has dozens of other Facebook pages for its various titles and brands. Those users, however, have a clear alternative – Stuff’s own platforms.
Stuff ceased advertising on Facebook after it carried footage of the Christchurch mosque attack that was live-streamed by the shooter on a fringe platform. Yesterday’s move was another principled stand in response to Facebook’s abysmal record on hate speech. Stuff should be applauded for its bold move – likely to be the first of many under its new owner Sinead Boucher – and its should act as a clarion call for other media companies to follow its example and give the multinational the fright of its life.
Last week, more than 500 companies reacted to the proliferation of hate speech on Facebook’s pages following the Black Lives Matter campaign and joined the Stop Hate for Profit advertising boycott that could put a sizeable dent in the social network’s $US70 billion in annual ad revenue. They rightly judge that the only way to force Facebook and its ilk to show real corporate responsibility is to hit them hard in the pocket. However, for the umpteenth time, Facebook offered ultimately self-serving ‘solutions’ to yet another problem of its making. Continue reading “Kiwi kids on social media”
