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This constant one-sided narrative I see on Twitter about how everything is YouTube's and Facebook's fault is getting really tiring, and it's also wrong. We didn't do that much better in the media industry. If we really want to solve this, we need to step up as well.
Many newspapers covered the terrorist's manifesto in great detail and even argued that it was in the public interest to do so. It wasn't:
Many newspapers created profile articles, turning the terrorist into some form of celebrity, while listing all the other people he was inspired by. Yes, you wrote about it negatively, but for a wannabe terrorist, this is like a recipe for inspiration.
We say that it was really bad that YouTube and Facebook didn't take down the videos fast enough ... and yet, several newspapers published clips from those videos themselves.
Even the newspapers who didn't post the actual video, many posted screenshots from it ... and pictures from the scene afterward... which from the perspective of a wannabe terrorist amount to the same thing.
Also, let's talk about exposure. While everyone is pointing fingers at Facebook and YouTube, their 'reach' was nothing compared to the combined exposure of the newspapers. Think about how many people who read about his manifesto in the press. We are talking
about millions.
about millions.
Then we have the lies. I see tons of media people say that the reason why so many people are sharing these videos is that they are supporting the terrorist. We know this isn't the case... I mean, sure some did it to 'support hate', but seriously
Then have the lie that Facebook and YouTube didn't care, and I even see journalists write that YouTube 'allowed it to happen'. No they freaking didn't, and as a journalist, you know that. They spent all day yesterday (and today) taking down the content.
I'm sorry media people. As a media analyst, I love you. I want the media to have the best future possible. But this constant one-sided and often completely distorted form of anti-tech lobbyism is simply dishonest.
Worse, by making this all about YouTube and Facebook, we mislead people into thinking that this entire problem is something that is just easily solved by just having YouTube use their copyright algorithms ... and then all the terrorist and hate speech would go away. It won't.
This makes people passive, because it allows them to think that this problem is just an external one by the tech companies, so we (in society or in the media) don't have to do anything ourselves. But we do. This *is* a societal problem. We all have to step up here.
Stop this one-sided anti-tech lobbyism. It's incredibly dishonest. It misleads the public, it makes the problem much harder to solve, and it tries to hide our own role. It's so frustrating to look at every day. Yes, the tech companies need to do better, but...my god...so do we!
