SOCIAL CONTROL
Amnesty International: Facebook Plan To Target Children Incompatible With
Human Rights
Facebook itself poses one of the biggest threats when it comes to
childrens privacy, according to the human rights organization.
by Alan Macleod
March 23rd, 2021
By Alan Macleod
SAN FRANSICO Facebook has let slip that it is launching an Instagram
service for children under 13 years old, who are currently legally barred
from using the platform. On Thursday, Instagrams vice president of product
told employees in a leaked communication that this was indeed the plan.
Instagrams boss, Adam Mosseri, confirmed the leaks veracity to Buzzfeed
News, telling them that his goal was to create a transparent and
kid-friendly version of the popular photo-sharing app for children and
pre-teens.
Apart from the safety questions that arise in building an online platform
for millions of children, the Silicon Valley companys decision has been
condemned by many as extremely worrying.
Incompatible with human rights
Facebooks very business model is built on ubiquitous and constant
surveillance which is entirely incompatible with human rights. By making
users sign up to the opaque terms and conditions of Instagram, Facebook will
be able to harvest huge amounts of data about children and create invasive,
granular profiles that can last the rest of their lives, said Amnesty
International in a statement, presenting Facebooks plan as akin to foxes
offering to guard the henhouse. Facebook itself poses one of the biggest
threats when it comes to childrens privacy, the human rights organization
added, claiming that children would inevitably be bombarded with targeted
advertising, disinformation and incendiary content that is ubiquitous on its
other platforms.
Social Media Microtargeting and the Evolving Ministry of Truth
Lost in the conversation about social media microtargeting is the ability of
regular people to use their own critical thinking skills.
MintPress News | Raul Diego | Mar 5
Other experts characterized the move as one that would normalize the idea
that social connections exist to be monetized and legitimize the gathering
of data on minors. Social media companies algorithms are expressly designed
to keep users hooked and scrolling for more content. But an increasing body
of research suggests that staring at a screen has negative health
consequences, especially for children.
One study found that kids who were forced to cut back on screen time lost
weight, slept better, and were less aggressive. The World Health
Organization recommends no screen time whatsoever for those under three,
while others want that age to be raised to at least seven and screen time to
be limited for those under 12 years of age.
Facebook has made headlines of late thanks to some highly contentious
privacy protocols. In January, it gave its two billion WhatsApp users an
ultimatum: accept its new privacy rules which were rumored to allow it to
share user data with Facebook and others, or lose the service. The debacle
caused an estimated 7.5 million people to switch over to more
privacy-oriented Signal (although, as journalist Yascha Levine notes,
Signals ties to the U.S. government make its claims of total privacy highly
suspect).
Facebook has also been pushing facial recognition software that it
consistently misled users about, resulting in a $5 billion fine from the
Federal Trade Commission. Last year, it also agreed to pay $550 million
after illegally collecting Illinois residents facial and biometric data.
Big tech companies are already colluding with the government and sharing (or
selling) their users data. Microsoft defended the practice, going so far as
to claim it would be cruel to stop government agencies using the new
technology.
Facebook: Genocide is Cool but Don't Threaten our Profits
Facebook shuts down news in Australia to prevent government regulation but
refused to do so in Myanmar to prevent a genocide.
MintPress News | Alan Macleod | Feb 19
The Facebook empire
From launching in 2004 as a small social network service for students at
Harvard University, Facebook has grown into a sprawling empire, consisting
of apps like Instagram (bought in 2012 for $1 billion) and messaging
services like WhatsApp (bought in 2014 for $19 billion). It is also the
largest single news service in the world. Almost half the adult-aged planet
uses Facebook, with their feeds filled with news stories the company has
curated with help from the NATO cutout organization the Atlantic Council.
Its marketplace is an enormous commerce hub, while Facebook also owns a huge
advertising empire, using users data to rake in over $84 billion in
revenues from targeted ads in 2020. The companys CEO Mark Zuckerberg is the
seventh richest individual in the world, as per Forbes billionaire list.
Because of its economic and social influence, Facebook is also a very
powerful political actor. In late 2019, it blocked the New York Post from
sharing a story about Joe Bidens corruption and later banned Trump from its
platform. This cannot be because of genuine concern over a rising far right,
as Facebook aided the neo-fascist Alternative für Deutschland (AFD) in 2017.
The AFD met with American marketers at Facebooks headquarters in Berlin,
the company providing them extensive details about German voters, and
allowing the AFD to micro-target German voters with ads, helping them win 94
seats in the German parliament the far-rights best electoral showing
since the 1930s.
Ultimately, unless the government steps in, NGOs are powerless to prevent
the increasing digitization of childrens lives. It appears Facebook is
hellbent on hooking kids on its services, no matter what Amnesty
International says.