Trust and safety in social media is a public health issue. I'm starting to think that social media workers and companies should take an oath to do no harm, just like many healthcare workers do with the Hippocratic oath.
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Open on wandering.shop Annalee NewitzPronouns:
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I write science fiction and science nonfiction. Coming 1/31: The Terraformers. Bylines: NYT, New Scientist, The Atlantic, etc. Pod: Our Opinions Are Correct. I love noodles.
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Trust and safety in social media is a public health issue. I'm starting to think that social media workers and companies should take an oath to do no harm, just like many healthcare workers do with the Hippocratic oath. What is your biggest worry about the future of the Fediverse? Anonymous poll
Poll
mastodon.social gets too big
257
29%
Tumblr federates & sells ads against Masto content
87
9.8%
Bluesky
206
23.2%
too much defederation causes fragmentation
887 people voted. 337
38%
Voting ended 6 May 2023 at 23:50. Way back in 2021, I called out #Substack as a scam because it was masquerading as a service provider when it fact it was paying certain writers (often secretly) to create content for them. (https://buttondown.email/thehypothesis/archive/heres-why-substacks-scam-worked-so-well/) They had an editorial mission and a paid writing staff, but claimed to be a neutral service provider like Etsy for authors. Here's how that story is going ... Thanks to @nilaypatel's interview with CEO Chris Best about Substack Notes (https://www.tiktok.com/@decoderpod/video/7221602731998498094), the company's questionable ethics are in the headlines again. Nilay points out that Substack needs to prioritize content moderation because Substack Notes are a consumer-facing social media offering. But I would argue that they were social media all along. Let me put a phrase into your mind: nonconsensual virality. It's why quote-posts on Twitter led to harassment. People's words stolen, taken out of context, used purely to incite a mob of griefers. The answer is to give #Mastodon users control over whether someone else can quote-post them, with a simple "quote or not" setting that can be set before or after the post goes up. We should be allowed to stop people from taking our posts viral without our consent. Internet evolution:
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For me I made the most friends on a mail list/irc combo. This goes for defcon, local goth/industrial culture, etc. Prior to that bbs's netted the most lifelong friends. Tis the season to set up a monthly donation to your local instance of Mastodon! Remember, your Mastodon home (in my case, the excellent @wandering.shop) is volunteer run and hosted. That means humans are giving time and money to host and manage this community. Please consider helping out! If you're on @wandering.shop, you can set up a one-time or monthly donation here: http://www.dorianera.com/2022/08/testdemo-post-for-new-social-media.html |
@annaleen
I agree in principal, but the Hippocratic oath isn't legally binding, and even the presidential oath doesn't stop crooks.
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
https://www.usa.gov/inauguration
@annaleen That would have value ONLY if it could e enforced!
@annaleen like Google's "don't be evil"? 😉