The scholarly minions of Darwin, who uphold the principles of evolution despite the most damaging of political winter blizzards, will attest to the idea that the largest social media galaxies rival a lifeform. With maturity and development comes change, and adaptions that are not always the most optimal considering the circumstances. In the case of F***book, the corporate infrastructure has become so immense and ultra-focused on one goal, to continue to simply exist at all costs, that bureaucracy has overtaken innovation in creating a self-serving organism. This baleful phenomenon is readily apparent in social insect communities, where individuality is traded for the good of the whole, and while the hive thrives, the net intelligence level dwindles with each generation. Politically, Communism and Socialism rely on the compliance and pathological solidarity in regulating the flow of information, and instituting the gnarly shackles of complete control over society.
In the case of the planet’s largest social network by shear volume, the resulting stagnation from devolving into a hive mind leads to sloppy and embarrassing mistakes enforcing policy that is seemingly hastily written on a cocktail napkin at a Bay area hipster martini bar. Those on the outside looking in, wonder if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing, and if the medulla oblongata has somehow been cut loose and exists as a lonely derelict vessel in an expansive uncharted sea. With Christmas right around the corner, and election season to follow, the Silicon valley digital community could not afford another public blunder of a controversy, and Mark Zuckerberg received a counterfeit lump of cobalt in his stocking, with all inclinations pointing to a mining operation of human rights violations and exploitative practices in Africa. A popular destination where the entire tech community slurps from the purposely blind trough of plausible deniability.
Throughout a series of scandals and indiscretions, like waves crashing against the subconscious of society, Zuckerberg and crew have tempted fate in continuously redefining fact and fake, and private and public, within an ambiguous set of terms and conditions supposedly providing structure and stability for the online community. Instead of running more smoothly, thanks to the introduction of the memorable algorithms, automated software bots, and the collaboration with Cambridge Analytica, the concept of institutional control has been inadvertently vanquished into a sea of volatility. With campaigns ramping up for the crucial 2020 election cycle, the construct of the social network renders a status that is unfit to effectively moderate political ads, a plight that has already erupted in controversy.
Following the perfect timing script of a pathological lying doctor administering to the needs of elderly passengers using cruise ships for permanent housing solutions, while swindling millions of tax payer dollars out a Rascal scooter epic Medicare scandal, the propellers of hopelessness are already spinning political la la land. And the veritable iceberg cannot be avoided with a full stop command followed by the desolate ringing bell of ineffectiveness and ushering in tragedy. Reputation hunting season has opened with a reverberating thud. Amid the impeachment proceedings, political strategists frothing at the mouth to gain an ideological advantage come election time, are purchasing billions of dollars in F***book political advertising. And some are blatantly breaking the community rules, while fooling moderators into allowing doctored videos and falsified claims tainting the basic foundation of fact.
Polarizing democratic strategist Adriel Hampton deliberately checked the wrong F***book box to make a point, when submitting edited footage of politician Mitch McConnell apparently endorsing the impeachment of the president in a fake news disaster of a social media production. The forceful click, allowed the content to side-step moderation efforts, and platform officials took a passive stance in leaving the controversial series of McConnell advertisements live, despite massive criticism. When pressed on the issue, F***book claimed that there is no easy way to simply take down the glorified display of propaganda from the platform, which indicates just how complex and tedious the infrastructure has become in not allowing a simple command to be executed. The company claims that it is a “third party” issue, and cannot remove the flagged content. In a node built by pure energy, the concept of forgetfulness does not exist, as the digital echo will persist long after the essence of humanity is extinguished. And then there is the politics.
When it is all said and done, the corporate leadership is still a sounding board for the progressive cause when it is convenient, with billions of dollars flowing into the coffers of issues and candidates. Still, F***book claims that it is cleaning up its act and leveling the playing field by whacking the wrists of individual offenders and fakers with a nun’s hellfire intensity through a stringent account and identity validation process. Although candidates and campaigns curiously do not face the same bolstered standards as everyone else, a sobering reality illustrated by Hampton’s willful display of online performance art. Zuckerberg may have the moral code and wavering crazy energy attention span of Richard Simmon’s progeny, but an intellect is somewhere in there and justifies the cute and scandalous short shorts. The rules of the game have become fluidic, and there seems to be a wavering emphasis on accountability towards political ads. However the resounding bias is implacable, and the amount of infrastructure insurmountable.
Is whacky fitness guru Richard Simmons the father of F***book’s founder? It would answer a lot of questions.
In the real world of media, broadcasting entities are expected to keep a strict and public ledger mandated by the FCC of time purchased for political purposes. Non-compliance can lead to hefty fines and damaging sanctions. Up to this point in the digital revolution, federal regulations have somehow avoided online business models, leading to utter chaos in the proliferation of controversial information, but pressure has being applied from lawmakers and citizens groups. While publicly traded private entities are not bastions of free speech and can set their own standards, because of their reputation in society, accountability is imperative. The Hampton/McConnell scandal is a product of the propensity of the tech industry to test a system in real time, and worry about the consequences later. The lack of responsibility in tinkering with already ambiguous policy only manages to convolute any semblance of order. It also proves that F***book’s revamped policy in an attempt to regulate political advertising, is flawed and creates an entire new set of critical issues, that will certainly keep voters on their toes.
To create a political advertisement, an account holder now has to endure a rigorous validation process, which includes the electronic submission of a valid ID, in order to be approved. This step is in response to the apparent existence of hundreds of millions of bot accounts around the globe spreading propaganda and mistruths like some monster out of an Orwell nightmare. The actual F***book advertising interface is not for the non-techie faint of heart, and requires some informal training simply to build and submit a digital commercial. It all looks good in the perfect smartphone world, but how do the human moderators and algorithms handle dishonesty or those aggressively taking Hampton’s course of action and cheating the system? Not very well. There is some quote out about a well-engineered system being able to prevent accidents, but not sabotage, an idea that is lost on Zuckerberg and cronies.
At least F***book will continue to be a scapegoat for the defeated in the upcoming election. One cannot negotiate with an anthill.