4 ms·

While the specific case in Myanmar is the subject of the article above, I think the interest in the topic is not due to us all being very involved in that confl

While the specific case in Myanmar is the subject of the article above, I think the interest in the topic is not due to us all being very involved in that conflict. (Excluding those who are infact involved in that conflict and reading HN) Certain industries are natural monopolies. The winners win more. When a certain corporation gains too much power in a very important industry, the society at large becomes uncomfortable with the amount of power unelected employees at that company begins to have. The result is that companies within certain sectors becomes subject to certain laws, or are made public sector. For example, most countries have made the road-keeping-and-making industry almost completely public sector. This means a private company can't just ban certain pedestrians or drivers from accessing the road. Because road-keeping-and-making is a natural monopoly, and is very important to society. Now, social media is very important to society, and it is also a natural monopoly. Youtube will not be outdone by a competitor, neither will Facebook, neither will Google. (Notice Alphabet Inc. owns two of those) It only follows that these companies should become subject to new laws that prohibit them from exercising their power over society, after all, they are not elected officials. But something doesn't work. What country will decide the policy of Facebook? The US? Then why should the US decide the social media sector policy of Myanmar. .Which naturally follows if they control the policy of Facebook. Social media, the internet and it's mega-corporations are either in a very good spot right now, or in a very bad spot, depending on how you view it. And I see no good solution. Certainly, if things keep going the way they are in the west, this trajectory of political censorship will probably lead to real conflict, like in Myanmar.

Imnimo 6y ago
>Youtube will not be outdone by a competitor, neither will Facebook, neither will Google What happened to MySpace?
- rosmax_1337 6y ago
  It was outdone by Facebook, back when the industry was still growing. 10 years later, things have solidified.
  - Imnimo 6y ago
    I think a lot of people thought MySpace was here to stay, and would have said it would never be replaced. Same with AOL Instant Messenger. I'm not saying Facebook is definitely going to collapse or anything, but I don't think the network effect is so strong that it's now unassailable.
    - lokedhs 6y ago
      Tik Tok seems to be doing what it can to change things. Disclaimer: I dislike both Facebook and Tik Tok so I'm neither applauding nor decrying this.
romanoderoma 6y ago
Interesting points. I think that social networks are not public utilities, but they need to respond to the laws of the countries they operate. For example: IMO it's not up to YouTube to decide automatically if something is a copyright infringement but rather the copyright holder should file a legal complain and the jurisdictional system should have the final word. Social networks on the other hand should be liable if the only way to contact them is some private ticket system that do not engage a public investigation. For example: a comment has been deleted because it's been signaled. The author should have a way to appeal through an independent state run office that will take the final decision. Maybe it would not make things faster or better, but since public offices duty is to serve the public, it's their natural role to respond and resolve disputes, if we let private companies decide on what's right and what's not, we lose control of the public speech, what we achieved building up democracies. There are a lot of ways in which this setup could be abused by tyrants and dictatorships, but it's already happening and letting SN do all the work it's not gonna fix it.

Imnimo 6y ago

>Youtube will not be outdone by a competitor, neither will Facebook, neither will Google What happened to MySpace?

rosmax_1337 6y ago
It was outdone by Facebook, back when the industry was still growing. 10 years later, things have solidified.
- Imnimo 6y ago
  I think a lot of people thought MySpace was here to stay, and would have said it would never be replaced. Same with AOL Instant Messenger. I'm not saying Facebook is definitely going to collapse or anything, but I don't think the network effect is so strong that it's now unassailable.
  - lokedhs 6y ago
    Tik Tok seems to be doing what it can to change things. Disclaimer: I dislike both Facebook and Tik Tok so I'm neither applauding nor decrying this.

romanoderoma 6y ago

Interesting points. I think that social networks are not public utilities, but they need to respond to the laws of the countries they operate. For example: IMO it's not up to YouTube to decide automatically if something is a copyright infringement but rather the copyright holder should file a legal complain and the jurisdictional system should have the final word. Social networks on the other hand should be liable if the only way to contact them is some private ticket system that do not engage a public investigation. For example: a comment has been deleted because it's been signaled. The author should have a way to appeal through an independent state run office that will take the final decision. Maybe it would not make things faster or better, but since public offices duty is to serve the public, it's their natural role to respond and resolve disputes, if we let private companies decide on what's right and what's not, we lose control of the public speech, what we achieved building up democracies. There are a lot of ways in which this setup could be abused by tyrants and dictatorships, but it's already happening and letting SN do all the work it's not gonna fix it.