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Just to give a counter point to this - I honestly think that the UK (where I live) would be better off if it didn't inherit services such as Twitter, Facebook,

Just to give a counter point to this - I honestly think that the UK (where I live) would be better off if it didn't inherit services such as Twitter, Facebook, etc from the US. Certainly in my circles of friends and family all social media does is spread misinformation and rumours. Schools use Facebook for connecting with parents, which I think is pretty lazy of them and we should have a national system for this. Obviously there are some services that are great for the UK which are American (AWS?), so if there were nation-only Internets then it would be good to pick and choose which services from other nations you could use in your own. Just a thought experiment anyway...

etripe 6y ago
Is the problem really that Facebook et al are American, though, if the term even applies to multinationals? Say a company based in the UK had the exact same basic business plan of collecting your data and selling it to micro-targeting ad agencies and political campaigns. Would it not have the same prime metric of "engagement" and stimulate the same rage bait and limbic system responses? Would people not end up in ideological rabbit holes? Would it then not be equally problematic? What if said company had a monopoly? Now that you guys have left the EU, is the UK regulatory framework anywhere close to the GDPR? Are there other factors that would prevent it happening in your back yard? In other, tongue in cheek words: what are you on about, mate?
- CodeGlitch 6y ago
  >> Is the problem really that Facebook et al are American Kinda. American's seem to take capitalism to the extreme (honestly I do like America and Americans). I'm all for an open market but there are limits that we should enforce. >> Say a company based in the UK had the exact same basic business plan of collecting your data and selling it to micro-targeting ad agencies and political campaigns. Would it not have the same prime metric of "engagement" and stimulate the same rage bait and limbic system responses? Would people not end up in ideological rabbit holes? Yes - but I don't think those companies would end up as oligarchies, as Facebook / Twitter / etc have become, due to the "national" limitation that they would endure. They wouldn't be able to influence the elections in other countries. Competition would be easier (you try starting a company to compete with Twitter, it can sway public opinion to stay top-dog).

etripe 6y ago

Is the problem really that Facebook et al are American, though, if the term even applies to multinationals? Say a company based in the UK had the exact same basic business plan of collecting your data and selling it to micro-targeting ad agencies and political campaigns. Would it not have the same prime metric of "engagement" and stimulate the same rage bait and limbic system responses? Would people not end up in ideological rabbit holes? Would it then not be equally problematic? What if said company had a monopoly? Now that you guys have left the EU, is the UK regulatory framework anywhere close to the GDPR? Are there other factors that would prevent it happening in your back yard? In other, tongue in cheek words: what are you on about, mate?

CodeGlitch 6y ago
>> Is the problem really that Facebook et al are American Kinda. American's seem to take capitalism to the extreme (honestly I do like America and Americans). I'm all for an open market but there are limits that we should enforce. >> Say a company based in the UK had the exact same basic business plan of collecting your data and selling it to micro-targeting ad agencies and political campaigns. Would it not have the same prime metric of "engagement" and stimulate the same rage bait and limbic system responses? Would people not end up in ideological rabbit holes? Yes - but I don't think those companies would end up as oligarchies, as Facebook / Twitter / etc have become, due to the "national" limitation that they would endure. They wouldn't be able to influence the elections in other countries. Competition would be easier (you try starting a company to compete with Twitter, it can sway public opinion to stay top-dog).