Readers of this blog will know we have cautioned against social media platforms in the past. And the beat goes on. TikTok, Truth Social (yea-right), Facebook and others are constantly in the news. The advent of Artificial Intelligence is a major compounding blow to the survival of social media. We have now armed every unstable person with the ability to misinform, mislead, incite, and–in general–create all kinds of mayhem. Several states are (or have already) banning TikTok. Elon Musk has bastardized “X” to the point where it is uncontrolled. Damages are inflicted every day. A recent Congressional Hearing called out the billionaires who run these businesses by telling them “you have blood on your hands”. (Ironically the author of that statement has accepted mega donations from gun lobbyists for years.) As we approach the November elections we can expect social media to run uncontrollably forward with garbage information that will serve to reinforce some people, confuse others and make communication totally unreliable. In short, the social media platforms will cause major disruption without adding any value to the process. And remember, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and other bad actors are always monitoring our weaknesses. As we have in the past, we suggest two mutually exclusive solutions: (1) find a way to technologically control social media content; or (2) eliminate social media entirely. We don’t know if either solution is “do-able” but something must be done to minimize the damage.
Comments are closed