this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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Controversy attracts users. Users attract advertisers. Advertising is how social media makes money. Some of that money is used to bribe officials who would otherwise regulate social media, harming their profits. Social media companies also fight regulation by making claims like “regulation chips away at free speech”.
A for-profit social media company is, ultimately, only interested in the bottom line. They don’t give a damn about ethics or responsibility.
Isn't a "for profit social media company" extremely dangerous? Isn't it obvious that they are doing these things? I'm asking why we are allowing this in the EU?
Social media has to be independent from money and billionaires.
Sometimes people ignore problems until they’re too big to overlook. By then, though, what’s causing the problems is entrenched and too big/difficult to get rid of. Nobody suspected that a few folks arguing about Linux would evolve into what’s happening now.
I agree with you completely. Unfortunately, since there’s so much money involved now, plus free speech issues, it’s a very difficult situation to unravel.