MAY 2021 IN CLICKS: Social Media Creates New Dangers (again).
Instagram for Kids, misinformation in Israel & Palestine, new apps, and more incoming from us to you.
This month, we’re giving you all the updates on the ~interesting~ idea Instagram has for an app that targets kids; the way that misinformation is escalating the Palestinian-Israeli conflict; and the rise of new social media apps that think we could all do online community better. We’ll also give you the latest trends we noticed from this month, hashtag or otherwise, and walk you through the work of our amazing team this month on Incoming!.
Instagram wants to create a social media app specifically for kids. Literally everyone with a brain cell thinks that’s a terrible idea.
Okay, maybe not everyone, but it is a truly terrible idea.
The Gist:
Facebook has been continuing their plans to develop an Instagram app specifically for kids under 13. The plan was originally announced in March, but they confirmed their development in May.
A lot of news articles and officials think that’s a pretty terrible idea (and, in case the headline did not make it clear, so do I).
44 Attorneys general wrote a letter to Facebook urging them to nix the app, arguing that it would add to the already detrimental effects of social media on youth at an even younger age and would contribute to a lack of protections for children from Internet stalking and exploitation.
A lot of media outlets are similarly concerned about the inability of Facebook to protect the privacy and safety of children, something it has struggled with in the past.
Facebook replied to the letter arguing that many under the age of 13 already lie about their age to access social media, and that an app for kids will provide parents more oversight. They also publicly promised they won’t run ads in order to protect children from being manipulated on the app.
Why should you care?
On current platforms, from TikTok to Instagram to Facebook, social media is already negatively affecting kids. It contributes to body-shaming, cyberbullying, and the grooming of children by sexual predators. These aren’t opinions -- we have data on all three of these phenomena happening to kids under the age of 18 on all types of social media apps. That Facebook thinks making it even easier to target kids with a separate virtual space -- or that they even think kids between the ages of 11-13 are even going to want to use the app over its “adult” counterpart -- is dubious at best and negligent at worst.
Misinformation on social media and the internet is escalating violence in Israel and the West Bank.
The Gist:
On May 14, the New York Times and several other news outlets published an analysis of the use of social media to spread and amplify misinformation that escalated the violence already occurring in Israel and Gaza.
The week of May 10th, a spokesman for Prime Minister Netanyaho showed a video claiming that Palestinian militants were firing rockets at civilian areas from Gaza. The video was actually taken on a different week, and wasn’t even filmed/located in Gaza.
Instances of this misinformation -- taking real videos and circulating them with falsified context -- has been shared in both Israeli and Palestinian activist groups, particularly on WhatsApp.
Telegram, Twitter and Facebook have also been heavily used to amplify misinformation. Several news outlets in the region have also discussed and shown said misinformation, broadcasting it as fact. Many experts are afraid it will create further distrust and violence.
Why should you care?
At the time of writing this newsletter, it’s been over ten days since violence between the Israeli government and Hamas intensified for the first time since 2014. The violence has disproportionately killed and displaced Palestinian civilians. 12 people have been killed in Israel and 219 were killed in Gaza. Amid growing understanding that Israel functions as an occupying force against Palestinians, and in the midst of an increasing tension between President Biden’s so-called commitment to human rights and his continued unequivocal support of the Israeli government, misinformation on online communities escalated an already tense situation and likely contributes to the fear, distrust, and violence between Israeli and Palestinian civilians.
New social media apps are springing up that reject the AI- and peer-pressure-based nature of mainstream social media apps.
The Gist:
Marvel Actor Blondy Baruti debuted his new social media app this month, BePerk.
BePerk joins the ranks of several smaller, newer social media apps that have been cropping up in the past year, including Vero, MeWe, and Howbout.
These social media apps market themselves as alternatives to mainstream social media like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook -- and stake much of their market appeal on the fact that they allow users more control in what they see and how they interact with each other.
According to researchers at various universities, their creation is likely evidence of an increasing frustration with mainstream social media’s handling of individual data, (lack of) privacy protection, and ad-based or click-based models.
Why should you care?
While the actual method differs significantly depending on the app -- from eliminating algorithm-based content suggestions, to being able to manually limit the time your followers see a specific post, to keeping your followers and likes private -- these smaller “boutique” social media apps seem to be trying to give you more control over your relationship with social media. They often market themselves as a more intimate way of connecting with your closest friends online, or a more responsible way of handling your individual consumer data. They aren’t likely to take over Instagram or Twitter anytime soon, but if you have found yourself frustrated with the insane lack of autonomy social media creates for you, this could be an outlet worth investigating.
Also, on trend…
-- Elon Musk hosted SNL and brought up his tweets in his monologue. He dodged the actual reason people think they’re problematic.
-- Twitter will no longer crop photos after complaints of bias in the process.
-- One of China’s government-run social media accounts mocked the COVID-19 crisis in India. They have since taken those tweets down.
-- President Biden reversed former President Trump’s executive order that limited liability protections for social media companies.
-- Bennifer may be back. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez broke off their relationship by 2004 and cited their 2000’s era internet and media coverage. Whether or not their relationship will incite the same ire -- or popularity -- as it did a decade ago remains to be seen.
-- James Charles returned to social media May 10th to claim he’s being blackmailed by former editor and producer Kelly Rocklein. Rocklein is suing Charles for retaliatory firing after taking time off for an injury, among other things.
On Incoming…
This month, our writers focused on the pitfalls and potential of social media: how it reinforces the negative way we view ourselves, how it can launch a career or hold one accountable, and how it even changes the way we read. We also celebrated the graduation of several of our staff writers from university, and we started recruitment for new Incoming! writers!
I discussed the dark side of Fitness TikTok and how it reinforces the way our society views bodies, beauty, and health.
Karla illuminated the rise and fall of Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) popularity on social media, and showed us how social media has the capacity to hold elected officials accountable like never before.
Kayla enlightened us on how the Internet has affected the reading and publishing experience. Read more here.
We got a shoutout from the amazing and talented Winnie Kong in her feature on Substack. Winnie is the founding editor-in-chief of Politically Invisible Asians, Juice’s other substack newsletter. Subscribe here.
We celebrated the graduation of our amazing staff members Emily Venezky, Kayla Curtis-Evans, Leah Erwin, and Grace Mahoney!
Applications for joining the Incoming team for Summer 2021 are still open! Apply here.
Love this format!