35 ms·

Isn't it usually the case that when someone builds a shitty thing and people get hurt, the builder is liable?

ineedaj0b 2y ago
Yeah, but buying a hammer and hitting yourself with it is different. The dangers of social media are unknown to most still.
- discardedrefuse 2y ago
  Yes. Buying a hammer and hitting yourself with it IS different.
- spacemadness 2y ago
  Yes, because a mechanical tool made of solid metal is the same thing as software that can change its behavior at any time and is controlled live by some company with its own motives.
- ThunderSizzle 2y ago
  It's be more akin to buying a hammer and then the hammer starts morphing into a screw driver without you noticing. Then when you accidentally hit your hand with the hammer, you actually stabbed yourself. And that's when you realized your hammer is now a screwdriver.
  - ineedaj0b 2y ago
    Yes, I thought that’s what I said - no one knows the shape of danger social media is currently. It’s like trying to draw tiger but you’ve never seen an animal. We only have the faintest clue what social media is right now. It will change in the next 25+ years as well. Sure we know some dangers but… I think we need more time to know them all.
    - BlueTemplar 2y ago
      We already know that broadcasting (aka the 4th power) comes with responsibility. We've known that for several hundred years by now. And social media (with editorialized or even curated-for-specific-user feeds) have been around for more than a decade now (Facebook's big Timeline update for instance dates to 2011).
x0x0 2y ago
You would think so, wouldn't you? Except right now youtube have a self advertisement in the middle of the page warning people not to trust the content on youtube. A company warning people not to trust the product they built and the videos they choose to show you... we need to rethink 230. We've gone seriously awry.
- tines 2y ago
  It's more nuanced than that. If I sent a hateful letter through the mail and someone gets hurt by it (even physically), who is responsible, me or the post office? I know youtube is different in important ways than the post, but it's also different in important ways from e.g. somebody who builds a building that falls down.
  - cmrdporcupine 2y ago
    The Post Office just delivers your mail, it doesn't do any curation. YouTube, TikTok, etc. differ by applying an algorithm to "decide" what to show you. Those algorithms have all sorts of weights and measures, but they're ultimately personalized to you. And if they're making personalized recommendations that include "how to kill yourself"... I think we have a problem? It's simply not just a FIFO of content in content out, and in many cases (Facebook & Instagram especially) the user barely gets to a choice in what is shown in the feed... Contrast with e.g. Mastodon where there is no algorithm and it only shows you what you explicitly followed, and in the exact linear order it was posted. (Which is actually how Facebook used to be)
    - anticensor 2y ago
      > (Which is actually how Facebook used to be) There is now too many posts on Facebook to do that.
  - ang_cire 2y ago
    If the post office opened your letter, read it, and then decided to copy it and send it to a bunch of kids, you would be responsible for your part in creating it, and they would be responsible for their part in disseminating it.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

Yeah, but buying a hammer and hitting yourself with it is different. The dangers of social media are unknown to most still.

discardedrefuse 2y ago
Yes. Buying a hammer and hitting yourself with it IS different.
spacemadness 2y ago
Yes, because a mechanical tool made of solid metal is the same thing as software that can change its behavior at any time and is controlled live by some company with its own motives.
ThunderSizzle 2y ago
It's be more akin to buying a hammer and then the hammer starts morphing into a screw driver without you noticing. Then when you accidentally hit your hand with the hammer, you actually stabbed yourself. And that's when you realized your hammer is now a screwdriver.
- ineedaj0b 2y ago
  Yes, I thought that’s what I said - no one knows the shape of danger social media is currently. It’s like trying to draw tiger but you’ve never seen an animal. We only have the faintest clue what social media is right now. It will change in the next 25+ years as well. Sure we know some dangers but… I think we need more time to know them all.
  - BlueTemplar 2y ago
    We already know that broadcasting (aka the 4th power) comes with responsibility. We've known that for several hundred years by now. And social media (with editorialized or even curated-for-specific-user feeds) have been around for more than a decade now (Facebook's big Timeline update for instance dates to 2011).

x0x0 2y ago

You would think so, wouldn't you? Except right now youtube have a self advertisement in the middle of the page warning people not to trust the content on youtube. A company warning people not to trust the product they built and the videos they choose to show you... we need to rethink 230. We've gone seriously awry.

tines 2y ago
It's more nuanced than that. If I sent a hateful letter through the mail and someone gets hurt by it (even physically), who is responsible, me or the post office? I know youtube is different in important ways than the post, but it's also different in important ways from e.g. somebody who builds a building that falls down.
- cmrdporcupine 2y ago
  The Post Office just delivers your mail, it doesn't do any curation. YouTube, TikTok, etc. differ by applying an algorithm to "decide" what to show you. Those algorithms have all sorts of weights and measures, but they're ultimately personalized to you. And if they're making personalized recommendations that include "how to kill yourself"... I think we have a problem? It's simply not just a FIFO of content in content out, and in many cases (Facebook & Instagram especially) the user barely gets to a choice in what is shown in the feed... Contrast with e.g. Mastodon where there is no algorithm and it only shows you what you explicitly followed, and in the exact linear order it was posted. (Which is actually how Facebook used to be)
  - anticensor 2y ago
    > (Which is actually how Facebook used to be) There is now too many posts on Facebook to do that.
- ang_cire 2y ago
  If the post office opened your letter, read it, and then decided to copy it and send it to a bunch of kids, you would be responsible for your part in creating it, and they would be responsible for their part in disseminating it.

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]