No.

 

What a mess its all become. Social media has rarely been accountable though they've been yanked into line now and them  by exasperated governments. All too often its felt like a gesture rather than a change. Safety, and common decency, has now become a question of political positioning. Decency is about this mythical threat called 'The Left'. Insult and hate speech instead is 'free speech'. It seems to have been forgotten that the right to free speech also comes with it a duty of responsibility. Somehow we're at the point where human beings need to be reminded how to be humane. As a species we've always had a dodgy streak and when we've given into it we're the most destructive force imaginable. Look at the fascist era of the 1930's. Racism and othering was made the norm. Government controlled media pushed out misinformation and propaganda. The result was millions dead. We've seen it time and time again since then and only have to look at Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, Myanmar, Sudan and countless other wars raging at the moment to see the results today. And now Meta has joined Elon Musk's X in removing safeguards for marginalised communities and people at risk of self harm through suicide and channels promoting anorexia and community intolerance. Musk is actively using his platform to undermine legitimate governments whose agendas he disagrees with and call the their removal and the jailing of their politicians. All in the interests of 'free speech'. All of a sudden free speech means its ok to incite hatred and into some of the most powerful positions in the world we see isolationist, aggressive, truth averse leaders coming to the fore. 

I'm terrified. And if you're not you should be. 

So we do what we can. Activism is one thing and important. If it wasn't leaders wouldn't be trying to suppress it. Somehow that's still free speech. We only have to look at the my own UK government and their legislation to restrict protest for an example of mature democracy gone very wrong. It's yet to be repealed under the new government. 

So I can only make my own small protest. I can make my voice heard as can we all. But we can stand up to the insanely wealthy tech valley oligarchs who would risk our safety and wellbeing for profit and positions of power. They don't care though to be fair Zuckerberg has the decency to look uncomfortable every time he's called out for poor decision making and lack of accountability. 

I'm gay. I'm disabled. A target for abuse and that's now  been made ok. So for me its goodbye to Facebook and Instagram and their algorithm distorted, toxic platforms. We can add unsafe to that list of failings. You don't get to insult me and mine my data for profit. Frankly, you can fuck off. I've already left X. Musk has made it a propaganda tool and a platform to disrupt society, and to promote and normalise his far right views. Not to mention the fact that its become a haven for trolls. You'll find me instead on BlueSky (where incidentally a lot of my colleagues in healthcare have transferred to), on MeWe as a Facebook replacement, and on Glass and Tumblr to promote my photography. 

To be honest I'm pissed off with the move. There's nowhere near the market penetration on these platforms for my artwork, and moreover Facebook has been a remarkable tool for maintaining my real world friendships and communication. But if I don't make the move then I'll be waiting a lifetime to get off those sneering, hate filled platforms, waiting for everyone else I know to do the same. Well we have to start somewhere. Of my circle of  real friends five have opened MeWe accounts. Its a start. Lets hope the competition for our engagement on non-algorithm driven, kinder platforms becomes stronger and we have some effective choices. 

The time for social media to take responsibility for their negative effects on the world is well overdue.