I had dinner last night with some good friends and over the course of many topics of discussion the current state of social media came up. I found the following articles insightful.

If I have one take at all about all of this, I think I would say that when we talk about these systems it is incredibly hard to get to grips with their scale. Indeed I really doubt that the platforms themselves have a full handle on what is going on.

They create new harms, new opportunities, the web itself is something that is still unrolling in its impact on who we are. Sometimes I find it refreshing and new, and sometimes so so tiring.

In all of this Wikipedia has stood out as an amazing resource, the best of the web. Their fateful decision to seek donations as their business model has been what has allowed for that. They talk about the truth infrastructure of the web - https://world.hey.com/ian.mulvany/the-truth-infrastructure-of-the-web-b7c32a3f - I like that.

I was also going to include a link to the op ed that Peter Thiel wrote in the Financial Times, but it’s so so so deeply nuts I couldn’t make it fit well with the other articles I’m linking to here.

So here are three reads that I think are worth your time -

The coming battle between social media and the state by David Allen green.

If Meta and X were confident in heading off the regulatory impositions of the EU, Brazil and elsewhere, they would not need to swing behind Trump and the new administration. The fact that they are doing so openly and unapologetically — indeed shamelessly — means they know they have a challenge, and one which they may not meet

A good take on the strategic pivot of Facebook, and why ultimately the tech giants are weak in the face of regulation.

found on 2025–01–12

The Great Social Media Decentralization by Renee diresta

This is a great overview of the recent rise of decentralised platforms, how users have to balance flight vs raising their voices, a history of working the refs, and a good perspective on the trade offs between central and decentralised platforms

found on 2025–01–12

Welcome to hell, Elon - The Verge by Nilay Patel

The essential truth of every social network is that the product is content moderation, and everyone hates the people who decide how content moderation works.

This is a great read on the nature of social media platforms, but two years on from when it was written we now have a much clearer view of the motivations of Elon musk and his massive disregard for any of the concerns laid out here.

found on 2025–01–12