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Government must move away from toxic social media platforms | Open Rights Group [Video] (peertube.openrightsgroup.org)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/fediverse@lemmy.world
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We shouldn't be forced to use toxic platforms that track and profile us in order to get public information.

Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube track and profile their users so that they can target advertising towards them.

Their business models fuel online harms by pushing more and more extreme content to users. Despite this, these platforms are one of the primary ways that government departments share public information.

Tell your MP to support the EDM calling on the UK Government to ensure that all public sector social media content is published on open, decentralised and federated platforms!

Act now: https://action.openrightsgroup.org/tell-your-mp-government-must-move-away-toxic-social-media-platforms

#socialMedia #UK #politics #UKpolitics #fediverse #initiative

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[–] 53 points 1 day ago (11 children)

When covid started I didn't know anything about it. I wasn't on Twitter or reddit or Facebook. I was in college, doing that and had a baby. We watched cartoons and when they slept I'd read and write. I had no idea until no one was on the road or at Walmart with me. I had no idea how to even get information about what was happening, so I went to the county website and found nothing. my professors stopped livestreaming and sent helpful information about it the same week so I got it.

Turned out the city had a Facebook page that people were getting their information from. And there was also a Twitter.

Then my kid gets to be school aged. The fucking school used Facebook and twitter to communicate with parents. I missed so many programs, and lacked information about everything that happened there.

Fucking hate it.

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  • [–] 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    Damn... We should really start fighting for a world where people making the option of not using digital technologies are respected, as written in the Off-Punk Manifesto...

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  • [–] 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 child)

    This means directly targeting classical liberalism and the governments collusion with capital. Simply getting them to use mastodon or whatever does mot target the root cause.

    We have 2 mobile operating systems, both under the control of American big tech oligarchs. That is not freedom. It is the illusion of choice. It is technological tyranny. Most government services require these OS's exclusively to use many public apps and services.

    Most governments are allowed to image your devices and back them up to some police state server indefinitely because you cross a border. That is not freedom or democracy. It is technological tyranny. Companies are allowed to sell you a device and brick it or completely change the value proposition without consequence. The ability to exert control over your purchased hardware and software should not even be an option for any government or corporation.

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  • [+] -7 points 1 day ago (6 children)

    You should really pay closer attention to the news...

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  • [–] 14 points 1 day ago* (5 children)

    Did you watch the news much when you were in your 20's? Because i didn't, hell I still don't. Plus taking 50 credit hours with a little toddler baby raising them alone took every bit of my time.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 day ago* (1 child)

    I don't watch TV but I read the news on the news websites on my phone.

    If I wouldn't have a phone I would subscribe to a newspaper.

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  • [–] 5 points 1 day ago*

    That's cool. My reading time was divided around the 6 college textbooks I was reading at one time and being judged on my comprehension of the texts, and as I was paying for the chance to be judged, I took it pretty seriously. I didn't even have a news app at that age, besides the newsbreak factory install with my phone that I immediately deleted.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    ...yeah?

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago* (1 child)

    What did you watch CNN, BBC? In your 20's you were doing that?

    I don't think I watched what I wanted on TV for more than an hour a week in my 20s.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 day ago

    I mean it was on every news station and website in existence, non-stop for months before the cities were emptied. It was literally the biggest news in the world.

    If you didn't have time to watch the news you probably wouldn't have seen it on any social media or official outlet either.

    But I digress, as your main point remains correct, governments should have sovereign platforms for which to communicate with the public that doesn't require users to submit ID and facial scans and phone numbers, and click the boxes with fire extinguishers. They should just be able to read it.

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