Space News from SpaceDaily.com
Twitter backs overhaul of social media to stem disinformation
San Francisco, Dec 12 (AFP) Dec 12, 2019
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey is funding research aimed at changing the way information circulates on social media -- with the goal of combating online violence, hate and disinformation.

Dorsey on Tuesday announced he would fund an independent team of five architects, engineers, and designers -- dubbed Bluesky -- to develop an "open and decentralized standard for social media."

In a series of posts, he explained the goal is for Twitter to ultimately be subject to this new standard, which would be open to adoption by fellow social media networks like Facebook or TikTok.

"We're facing entirely new challenges centralized solutions are struggling to meet," Dorsey said.

Those range from rooting out disinformation and detecting violent content -- hate speech or child pornography -- to the fact today's algorithms tend to direct users' toward content "that sparks controversy and outrage."

"Centralized enforcement of global policy to address abuse and misleading information is unlikely to scale over the long-term without placing far too much burden on people," Dorsey said.

But he argues a single technical standard shared across different platforms -- which currently operate like walled gardens -- could be a game changer.

A shared new standard could curb the power of tech giants to determine what content goes viral -- putting individual users in control.

It could also theoretically hand users back control of their data -- currently stored and monetized by private platforms, typically through advertising.

Dorsey argued that the value of social media was increasingly shifting away from content hosting and removal, and towards recommendation algorithms.

"Unfortunately, these algorithms are typically proprietary, and one can't choose or build alternatives. Yet," he wrote.

An open standard, Dorsey said, would allow Twitter to focus on building recommendation algorithms that "promote healthy conversation."

He also said the team would also seek to "build open community" around the new standard, to include companies and organizations, researchers and civil society leaders.

"This isn't going to happen overnight," Dorsey conceded.

"It will take many years to develop a sound, scalable, and usable decentralized standard for social media that paves the path to solving the challenges listed above. Our commitment is to fund this work to that point and beyond."


ADVERTISEMENT




Space News from SpaceDaily.com
DiskSat flat satellite platform targets high power missions and very low Earth orbit
Webb maps carbon rich atmosphere on distorted pulsar planet
The Tech Behind 2025's Online Casino Boom - What's Powering the Surge?

24/7 Energy News Coverage
Brain like chips could cut AI power demand
"Robot, make me a chair" robot-make-me-a-chair-in-six-prompts
Germanium oxide interface boosts tin monosulfide thin film solar cell efficiency and stability

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Leonardo DRS space radio completes first secure on orbit data transport test
Eutelsat Network Solutions to lead global rollout of Intellian OW7MP manpack SATCOM terminal
Space Systems Command activates System Delta 80 for assured space access

24/7 News Coverage
Ancient bee nests found inside Caribbean cave fossils
Maintaining the Gold Standard: The Future of Landsat Calibration and Validation
Weak La Nina reshapes Pacific sea levels and seasonal weather


All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.