Week 16

Meta:
Say No to Free Speech

Meta, a leader in social media, owns WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. But Meta was still known for having unethical practices, just look at what an independent external audit of Meta from May 2021:

• May 11, Meta blocked popular hashtags despite them picking up engagement

• May 13, Content restriction from certain countries, restricting content from those areas from being shared with the rest of the world

• May 14-20, Meta disregard letters from civil society organizations expressing concern over restrictions on free speech

• May 21, Palestinian journalists report blocking of their WhatsApp accounts

Meta didn’t stop there, Instagram admitted to shadow-banning content on October 16, 2023.

TikTok:
Are there ulterior reasons for the ban?

TikTok shares a similar, but different faith as Meta. Unlike Meta, TikTok doesn’t admit to shadow-banning or restricting posts despite users showing proof of loss of viewership and engagement.

The recent case from congress to ban TikTok quoting “addressing national security concerns regarding the relationship between China and TikTok”, despite the strong pushback from the US population to keep TikTok, let’s see what some sources say the reason for the ban is:

• Multiple powerful US politicians, including senators reiterated calls for a ban on TikTok citing the app promotes political stances

• American venture capitalist stand against TikTok, he believes TikTok is swaying young people from the traditional political views, and they’re protesting against government’s political stances

• Senator Romney said TikTok ban is connected to overwhelming volume of pro-Palestinian content

Twitter/X:
Is the service as biased as the CEO?

One of the last large social media platforms not mentioned yet, X (formerly Twitter) doesn’t seem to be exempt from the behaviours:

• In 2021, X told a journalist reporting to delete her tweets

• Twitter restricted her account shortly afterwards. Later on apologizing and removing the restriction

• X has been documented to suspend hundreds of Palestinian accounts after October 7, 2023

Elon Musk, CEO and Owner of X, has also been known to make highly biased posts with little regard of them being misinformation, specifically against Muslims.

What We Recommend:

Now, there will always be misinformation and information bias, as this could be chalked up to human nature, and everyone sharing information will always feel that their perspective is the most valid.

But we have to do our due diligence prior to believing or sharing anything online. One of the best things to do is research the topic yourself. Many instances if you feel like you’ve come across something, and you can’t believe it’s true, it’s possible it isn’t.

There are many news outlets that do their best to be unbiased, and we urge you to find your own, but here are some that our readers use:

• Al Jazeera

• Al Mayadeen

• Roya News

• Remember, there are more than 1,279 daily newspapers in the USA alone

Again, not every news outlet is perfect, and even these news outlets can publish misinformation, so it falls upon you as the reader to find multiple sources to find the real story.

Remember, together, we can stop the spread of false information, and create a safer and better future for everyone.

At Salaaz, we want to build transparency, and that’s something our users will have access to more details on the products and vendors they purchase from, making it one of the most transparent marketplaces!

We hope you enjoyed this week’s newsletter, give us your feedback below and we look forward to seeing you again next week!