How do algorithms decide what content you see online? Is there really no way to prevent the misuse of social media to spread disinformation and hate?
Online platforms must be transparent and accountable for what their algorithms decide to promote. It's time we make this happen.
Starting today, we're setting up a European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency in Sevilla, Spain. This is one of the many measures in our new #DigitalServicesAct.
More info: https://algorithmic-transparency.ec.europa.eu/index_en
@EU_Commission There's plenty of information out there on how build recommendation systems (it's statistics, not rocket science). And disinformation and hate spread fairly freely long before social media.
If you really want to make a difference, support teaching people Critical Thinking and Media Literacy skills.
@maethorechannen @EU_Commission Actually, social media made matters worse.
@elshid @EU_Commission Yes, but the answer is still critical thinking and media literacy skills. "Algorithmic Transparency" will be about as useless as all those cookie consent dialogues are for protecting privacy.
@maethorechannen @EU_Commission We need to regulate them, for our common safety. Just as cars or loudspeakers.
@elshid @EU_Commission It'll be a false sense of security because the most you could hope to achieve is to push it all back to the offline world and it's unlikely that any regulation would be anywhere near that effective. You only need to look at the world's history between 1850 and 1990 to figure out that disinformation and hate spread just fine without social media.
If you really want to protect people then you need to give them the skills to protect themselves.
@maethorechannen @EU_Commission You mean strategically placed propaganda as well as censorship and no or little access to independent access to information?
Of course, we need Digital Literacy, but this is only one weapon in the combat against hate speech. To win, we need to fight with combined arms.
