Hi Senator,
I'm writing to you about social media, an issue upon which I, and many other Americans, have several concerns:
1) There's no accountability whatsoever to the public.
For example, you literally cannot contact Instagram about account issues, except through the app. There's no phone number, no direct email, no person or board or body to appeal if someone is harassing you, as has happened to me. How is it fair or ethical for these companies to collect our data and yet not be held to any account whatsoever about how users manage their own personal data in a direct, straightforward manner?
For example, when you quit social media, the standard response is that your account will be deleted after 30 days. Why? Why shouldn’t I be able to delete my account immediately? And when are our representatives going to demand some accountability on the part of these mega media companies?
2) Decisions made about accounts and what constitutes abuse or harassment are completely opaque and arbitrary.
There appears to be no clear agreement or code of contact users are expected to adhere to, and it's often the case that no reason is given as to why a particular post is to be taken down or user banned.
I understand that in egregious cases like President Trump, Twitter has to ban him for inciting violence, but as an ordinary citizen, what are the rules and how are they going to be enforced? Another example: it seems people can say any number of blatantly racist or sexist things about white people and/or men, but I imagine posts get banned all the time for the reverse. In my opinion, hate speech of any kind shouldn't be allowed, but this metric is not being applied in a uniform manner. As Orwell said in Animal Farm, it would appear some animals are more equal than others.
3) Our data is being collected and used in ways that are not apparent to the user.
Yes, I understand we agree to a long set of legal terms when we sign up, but the typical person is not going to read all of that--especially underage users and children who are among social media's most prevalent members.
Shouldn't Facebook, IG, Twitter, etc., be required to produce a video or short explainer so that users understand the terms of what they're agreeing to, and if not, because it's too complex and/or they're abusing the ignorance of the average user, isn't that also a pretty big problem?
Fact is, as far as how social media is currently used in this country, it's the Wild West.
There are no real rules, no accountability, and all the power rests in the hands of a tiny group of extremely powerful billionaires who profit mightily from the fact that Congress hasn't done squat. And there are some serious consequences. Right now, accounts can be created with the express purpose of harassing people, whether mentally, sexually, or with violence, and the victim has no ability to stop that from happening. Indeed, if you complain, it might be your account which is shut down, which is what happened to me.
I'm a teacher at blah blah HS, and an account made by former students is trying to make it sound like I said something offensive to get me fired. I've now had two Instagram accounts shutdown while the offending account remains up and running, trying to smear me and destroy my reputation in the community. Both my accounts were private, and all I used them for was posting pictures and connecting with friends and family.
And, as I mentioned, there's no recourse. There's no one I can contact at Instagram or Facebook to have the offending account taken down or to see why mine was shutdown.
Please help me, and more importantly, help the American people.
Because it's not just me this is happening to. Many of my students have experienced this kind of harassment, as I'm sure millions of other Americans have, with no recourse to stop it, because the tech giants in Silicon Valley hold all the power.
These social media companies have to be held to more stringent standards: they should be immediately accountable to their users through both phone and email; they should publish and enforce clear standards of behavior; and they should make it clear how they use our data so that every user knows exactly what is being done with their private information.
Thank you for your time and consideration Senators!
Sincerely,
Hunter Foxx
These are complex issues. The best writing on tech in general is Ben Thompson of stratechery.com. He's done the best writing in public on the topics of how to think about regulating social media IMO. Highly recommend subscribing or at least reading the free weekly version. Most of our senators are terrifyingly ignorant of technology and the internet. I cringe at the possibility of them regulating tech. If us crypto nerds get our way (which we will) platforms will be subsumed by protocols which are owned and operated in a supra national org. See Twitter's experiment with https://twitter.com/bluesky