The wrongful death lawsuit against several social media companies for allegedly contributing to the radicalization of a gunman who killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, will be allowed to proceed.
Any precedent here regardless of outcome will have significant (and dangerous) impact, as the status quo is already causing significant harm.
For example Meta/Facebook used to prioritize content that generates an angry face emoji (over that of a “like”) - - as it results in more engagement and revenue.
However the problem still exists. If you combat problematic content with a reply of your own (because you want to push back against hatred, misinformation, or disinformation) then they have even more incentiive to show similar content. And they justify it by saying “if you engaged with content, then you’ve clearly indicated that you WANT to engage with content like that”.
The financial incentives as they currently exist run counter to the public good
Any precedent here regardless of outcome will have significant (and dangerous) impact, as the status quo is already causing significant harm.
For example Meta/Facebook used to prioritize content that generates an angry face emoji (over that of a “like”) - - as it results in more engagement and revenue.
However the problem still exists. If you combat problematic content with a reply of your own (because you want to push back against hatred, misinformation, or disinformation) then they have even more incentiive to show similar content. And they justify it by saying “if you engaged with content, then you’ve clearly indicated that you WANT to engage with content like that”.
The financial incentives as they currently exist run counter to the public good