The first thing I would say is that I am not on a crusade against Facebook. I think there's a lot of really amazing things that Facebook does. The only thing I would say is that although a lot of attention has been put on Facebook, there are other social media companies that collect just as much data, or in some cases more data.
When we look at how society is moving forward, this is a one-directional movement, right? Every single year, we are integrating smart devices that are connected to algorithms, that are connected to databases, in new and multifarious aspects of our lives. People are putting Alexa into their homes. Their fridges can connect to their phones. We might have self-driving cars at some point in the future. With the advent of things like facial recognition or smart buildings, physical spaces at some point may be adapting themselves to your presence in them.
There are a lot of benefits to that, but there are a lot of risks. One of the things that I think should be considered is more rules on transparency for targeting. Currently, if you as a politician go out and do a constituency event, the media might show up, there's an audience, your opponent might show up, and if you tell an untruth you can be called out on that, right? Or, if you say something and there's a different perspective, there is some kind of accountability mechanism there. That is the essence of the public forum.
The problem with targeting is that rather than standing in that public forum, you are going to each individual voter and whispering something in their ear. Now, in many cases what you're whispering is something you would be happy to say in that public forum. In some cases, it may not be.
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