4 ms·

Do you feel the same way about the sale of alcohol? I do see the argument for parental responsibility, but I'm not sure how parents will enforce that if the law

Do you feel the same way about the sale of alcohol? I do see the argument for parental responsibility, but I'm not sure how parents will enforce that if the law allows people to sell kids alcohol free from liability.

tines 2y ago
This is a good argument I didn't think of before. What's the response to it?
- Flozzin 2y ago
  We regulate the sale of all sorts of things that can do damage but also have other uses. You can't buy large amounts of certain cold medicines, and you need to be an adult to do so. You can't buy fireworks if you are a minor in most places. In some countries they won't even sell you a set of steak knives if you are underage. Someone else's response was that a 10 year old should not be on ticktoc. Well then how did they get past the age restrictions?(I'm guessing its a check box at best). So its inadequately gated. But really, I don't think its the sort of thing that needs an age gate. They are responsible for a product that is actively targeting harmful behavior at children and adults. It's not ok in either situation. You cannot allow your platform to be hijacked for content like this. Full stop. These 'services' need better ways to moderate content. If that is more controls that allow them to delete certain posts and videos or some other method to contain videos like this. You cannot just allow users to upload and share whatever they want. And further, have your own systems promote these videos. Everyone who makes a product(especially for mass consumption), has a responsibility to make sure their product is safe. If your product is so complicated that you can't control it, then you need to step back and re-evaluate how it's functioning. Not just plow ahead, making money, letting it harm people.
EasyMark 2y ago
Alcohol (the consumption form) serves only one purpose to get you buzzed. Unlike algorithms and hammers which are generic and serve many purposes, some of which are positive, especially when used correctly. You can’t sue the people who make hammers if someone kills another person with one.
- rbetts 2y ago
  You could sue a hammer manufacturer if they regularly advertised hammers as weapons to children and children started killing each other with them, though.
  - tines 2y ago
    You said sue the hammer manufacturer. Why didn’t you say to sue the newspaper that ran the ads? The fact that you couldn’t keep that straight in your analogy undermines your argument significantly imo.
- nmeagent 2y ago
  > Alcohol (the consumption form) serves only one purpose to get you buzzed. Since consumable alcohol has other legitimate uses besides getting a buzz on, I don't think this point stands. For example, it's used quite often in cooking and (most of the time?) no intoxicating effects remain in the final product.
- rfrey 2y ago
  We're not talking about "all algorithms" any more than the alcohol example is talking about "all liquids". Social media algorithms have one purpose: to manipulate people into more engagement, to manoeuvre them into forgoing other activities in favour of more screen time, in the service of showing them more ads.
- OfficeChad 2y ago
  [dead]

tines 2y ago

This is a good argument I didn't think of before. What's the response to it?

Flozzin 2y ago
We regulate the sale of all sorts of things that can do damage but also have other uses. You can't buy large amounts of certain cold medicines, and you need to be an adult to do so. You can't buy fireworks if you are a minor in most places. In some countries they won't even sell you a set of steak knives if you are underage. Someone else's response was that a 10 year old should not be on ticktoc. Well then how did they get past the age restrictions?(I'm guessing its a check box at best). So its inadequately gated. But really, I don't think its the sort of thing that needs an age gate. They are responsible for a product that is actively targeting harmful behavior at children and adults. It's not ok in either situation. You cannot allow your platform to be hijacked for content like this. Full stop. These 'services' need better ways to moderate content. If that is more controls that allow them to delete certain posts and videos or some other method to contain videos like this. You cannot just allow users to upload and share whatever they want. And further, have your own systems promote these videos. Everyone who makes a product(especially for mass consumption), has a responsibility to make sure their product is safe. If your product is so complicated that you can't control it, then you need to step back and re-evaluate how it's functioning. Not just plow ahead, making money, letting it harm people.

EasyMark 2y ago

Alcohol (the consumption form) serves only one purpose to get you buzzed. Unlike algorithms and hammers which are generic and serve many purposes, some of which are positive, especially when used correctly. You can’t sue the people who make hammers if someone kills another person with one.

rbetts 2y ago
You could sue a hammer manufacturer if they regularly advertised hammers as weapons to children and children started killing each other with them, though.
- tines 2y ago
  You said sue the hammer manufacturer. Why didn’t you say to sue the newspaper that ran the ads? The fact that you couldn’t keep that straight in your analogy undermines your argument significantly imo.
nmeagent 2y ago
> Alcohol (the consumption form) serves only one purpose to get you buzzed. Since consumable alcohol has other legitimate uses besides getting a buzz on, I don't think this point stands. For example, it's used quite often in cooking and (most of the time?) no intoxicating effects remain in the final product.
rfrey 2y ago
We're not talking about "all algorithms" any more than the alcohol example is talking about "all liquids". Social media algorithms have one purpose: to manipulate people into more engagement, to manoeuvre them into forgoing other activities in favour of more screen time, in the service of showing them more ads.
OfficeChad 2y ago
[dead]