Shadow Banning

"Shadow banning'"seems to be the new tool of choice for the platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc) to corrupt the flow of information. Shadow banning works by letting a disfavored user post but substantially reducing the number of people who see their posts below what the normal algorithms would suggest.

A perfect tool for tyrants. Molding discourse but in a way that isn't detectable and doesn't generate outrage. The emergent digital regime is a great boon for tyrants and makes our job as a free(ish) people to retain our freedom even more difficult.

If we look at the various abuses of privacy by the platforms and the ISPs as documented by Zuboff in "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism", in which the perpetrators have been regularly found out but then lightly punished or not at all, I don't put much weight in the fear of the platform companies about consequences to restrain their actions. Zuboff provides a quite compelling account of their strategy whereby the platforms regularly transgress norms and when caught then spin, evolve, and superficially fix (but not in substance). It is their well-documented modus operandi.

Any claims that they are now operating in good faith needs some strong support if we are not to operate on the basis that past evidence of bad faith is a good predictor of future behavior. And of course, as Zuboff amply demonstrates, there are strong economic incentives to deny, obfuscate, and delay behaviors that while not illegal would if honestly and fully disclosed caused strong negative reactions from users and governments. Motive, opportunity, and pattern of bad behavior. Doesn't prove the crime, but....

Transparency would solve a LOT of problems. Why not legislation that requires all platforms with more than 5 million USA customers to publish the algorithms by which they manage attention? Not particularly useful for end-users but would provide tremendous grist for journalists, researchers and others who could interpret and shine a spotlight on abuses.

"In the end they valued their security more than their freedom.
And at the end they lost both their security and their freedom."
-Seneca, the Stoic Philosophers