The internet may seem like a utopian place of freedom and democracy, where people can freely communicate about new ideas and philosophies, but it is instead a place largely controlled by corporations. Indeed, there are websites and spaces of the internet that are designed to be more open, but the websites with the most traffic are owned by a few media and advertising corporations. Morozov says that earlier generations, “too, were tempted to disregard the bitter lessons of the previous disappointments.” These previous disappointments were assumptions that the telegraph and radio and then television that followed would, if left alone, would be places that raises the level of public debate, and introduce transparency to our society. Instead they were used by large entities to influence the public by controlling content and advertisement.
Morozov, using quotations from Schaniel, shows that new technology does create change, but, “the adopted technology is adapted by the adopting society to their social processes.” Meaning that new technologies are adapted to be used to fit in the culture’s values and traditions. The internet and social media have adapted themselves to fit our society and serve the individuals connectivity needs and the corporations need to profit off the individual. YouTube, which is under the same corporate umbrella as Google, is the site where several of the channels I follow are located, including AntsCanada which reaches 2.3 million subscribers. The primary source of revenue of Google and YouTube is advertising. The hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who view each video are providing YouTube with valuable information that they sell to advertisers. AntsCanada provides his followers with high quality twenty-minute videos about ants and other related insects that are full of interesting insights and useful information, and in return these followers give up a small amount of personal information to be added to their advertising preferences.
It is difficult to find a place to have a social movement with others that is not controlled by a few large corporations. Morozov says that Fakebook has been a site of revolution is places like Egypt where is had a big impact on real world events. Recently Facebook has become a site full of controversy over privacy and collusion, and according to Morozov Facebook justifies their lack of protecting user privacy by claiming they are following the direction of society, and Morozov argues this should bring scrutiny. Indeed, many young people are growing cautious of Facebook, and Instagram has become more popular among teens. The only problem is that teens are not escaping or rebelling against Facebook by any means because Instagram is owned by Facebook.
Twitter is another place of social activism and is examined by Jackson and Wells in their paper on the political and social discourse surrounding the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson. They conclude that there is, “potential of public interest to outweigh state interest in setting public agendas and creating terms for debate.” So, while companies like Twitter, Facebook and google might not always have our best interests at heart, they do allow for public discourse to be heard and are at times sites that promote social change.
It is difficult to compare the niche of ant keeping to the use of social media to bring awareness to the killing of black men by police. One is a movement that has the potential to change the way future generations, especially those in counterpublics, live without fear and have access to an equal and democratic society; and the other at best tries to preserve the planets ecology by promoting responsible ant keeping and bringing awareness to the importance of ants. The only way that these two compare is that they utilize communication on social networks to spread their messages.
I think that this shows the incredible and wide-ranging potential social media platforms still have. The #MeToo movement was made possible because of the way social media allowed voices to be spread and heard over established messages regarding sexual harassment. Because of the way social media companies like Twitter and Facebook operate they can harbor hate and oppression as just as easily. Recent white nationalist rallies like the one in Charlottesville were promoted through social media, and the hateful rhetoric that lead to deadly violence was spread by large public figures such as President Trump on Twitter.
Positivity seems to fill the voices of the accounts I follow, so that is the message I want to end on. We should remember to examine and respect the small things around us that have huge effects on our lives, like ants. So, in the words of AntsCanada, “#AntLoveForever.”
