How Social Media Uses Your Data

Summary

This video script delves into the controversial practices of social media companies, accusing them of not only selling user data but potentially instigating riots. It discusses data breaches, such as the 20 million customer data theft from Big Basket, and raises concerns about privacy invasions like listening to users' conversations. The script explores how these platforms manipulate user decisions by leveraging their data, exemplified by the Myanmar riots incited by Facebook posts. It also addresses the business model of social media, where user data is the commodity, and the implications of targeted advertising. The video sheds light on the power struggle for user attention, the role of algorithms in content promotion, and the impact of social media on political opinions and societal polarization. It concludes by emphasizing the need for robust data protection laws to regulate these practices.

Takeaways

• 😲 Social media platforms are accused of not only selling user data but also potentially inciting riots and manipulating political opinions.
• 🛡️ Data breaches are a significant concern, with incidents like the theft of data from 20 million Big Basket customers highlighting the vulnerability of personal information.
• 🗣️ There are allegations that social media companies can listen to users' conversations through mobile devices, raising privacy concerns.
• 💭 The business model of social media hinges on capturing user attention and selling it to advertisers, often at the expense of user privacy and data security.
• 💰 The value of user data has been compared to oil, with platforms like Facebook investing billions in data centers to support their advertising revenue model.
• 🔍 Personal data is used to create detailed psychological profiles, enabling targeted advertising and potentially influencing user behavior and decisions.
• 🌐 Social media algorithms are designed to promote engagement, often amplifying extreme and controversial content, which can lead to societal polarization and manipulation.
• 📊 The influence of social media in politics is significant, with data being used to micro-target voters and potentially sway election outcomes, as seen with Cambridge Analytica and Facebook.
• 🛑 There have been calls for stricter data protection laws and regulations to safeguard user data and limit the unchecked power of social media companies.
• 🌟 Despite the negative aspects, social media has also been a force for good, enabling connectivity, education, and economic opportunities for many.

Q & A

What are the allegations against social media companies regarding data privacy?

The allegations include selling user data to politicians, manipulating user decisions through data, and even causing social unrest such as riots in some cases.

How did Big Basket's data breach impact its customers?

The data of 20 million customers of Big Basket was stolen, potentially exposing their personal information and putting them at risk of identity fraud.

What is the significance of data in the modern economy, and why is it considered valuable?

Data is considered more valuable than oil due to its ability to influence user behavior, target advertisements, and manipulate user decisions, making it a crucial asset for businesses and political entities.

How do social media platforms use cookies to track user behavior?

Cookies act as the memory of a website, saving user details and preferences. Third-party cookies allow websites to share this information, enabling them to track user behavior across different sites.

What role do algorithms play in the spread of fake news and conspiracy theories on social media?

Algorithms are designed to promote content that generates more engagement, often favoring sensational or extreme posts, which can include fake news and conspiracy theories.

How did Cambridge Analytica use Facebook data during the 2016 US elections?

Cambridge Analytica used Facebook data to create psychological profiles of users, identifying potential supporters of Donald Trump and targeting them with personalized content to influence their voting decisions.

What was the outcome of the Cambridge Analytica scandal for Facebook?

Facebook was fined $725 million in 2022 and faced scrutiny from regulatory bodies. Mark Zuckerberg had to testify before the US House of Representatives, and Facebook publicly apologized in full-page advertisements.

How do social media companies' algorithms contribute to social polarization?

Algorithms tend to recommend content that aligns with a user's existing beliefs, reinforcing their views and creating an echo chamber effect, which can lead to increased polarization.

What is the impact of social media on the attention economy, and how does it influence consumer behavior?

Social media platforms compete for user attention, using data to show targeted advertisements and influence consumer behavior. This attention economy has made data a valuable commodity, shaping consumer choices and market trends.

How do social media companies manipulate user engagement through their platform design?

Companies design their platforms to be addictive, using features like notifications, infinite scrolling, and algorithmic content curation to keep users engaged and on the platform for longer periods.

What steps can users take to protect their data and privacy on social media?

Users can take steps such as adjusting privacy settings, being cautious about the information they share, using privacy-focused browsers, and being aware of the terms and conditions they agree to.

Outlines

00:00

🔒 Data Exploitation by Social Media Giants

The paragraph delves into the allegations against social media companies for not only selling user data to political entities but also potentially instigating riots. It cites the case of Big Basket's 20 million customer data breach and raises concerns about the privacy of voice data through mobile devices. The narrative questions the motives behind these companies' data collection practices, highlighting the significant investments they make in data centers to offer 'free' services. The speaker ponders the true cost of this 'freedom' and suggests that the data collected is used to manipulate user decisions through targeted advertising, influencing political opinions and consumer behavior.

05:02

🕵️‍♂️ Unveiling Social Media's Data Collection Mechanisms

This paragraph explains how social media platforms gather extensive information about users beyond just basic details like name and age. It discusses how user activity, such as likes, comments, and even inactivity, is tracked to build a comprehensive profile. The paragraph also touches on the use of EXIF data from images to glean GPS coordinates and other metadata. Furthermore, it explains how 'like' and 'share' buttons act as trackers, and how third-party cookies facilitate data sharing across different websites. The speaker emphasizes the economic value of user data, comparing it to oil, and mentions the risks of data breaches and identity fraud.

10:07

📊 Data as a Tool for Manipulation and Control

The focus of this paragraph is on the detailed insights that social media platforms can gather about individuals, such as dating habits, job offers, insurance details, and political inclinations. It uses the example of a woman named Juda, who received an astonishing 800 pages of personal data collected by Tinder in response to a data request. The paragraph underscores the potential for manipulation based on this detailed data, including influencing political views and consumer choices. It also addresses allegations of social media companies listening to users' conversations through devices and the impact of targeted advertisements based on comprehensive user profiling.

15:09

📱 The Battle for User Attention and Data

This paragraph discusses the fierce competition among social media companies for user attention and the strategies they employ to keep users engaged. It highlights how these platforms use the data they collect to serve users content that keeps them hooked, often at the expense of their time and attention. The speaker points out that these companies hire top minds to design algorithms that are so captivating that they rival sleep as a competitor for users' time. The paragraph also touches on the negative consequences of this addiction to social media, including its impact on social interactions and personal productivity.

20:10

🌐 Social Media's Role in Political Manipulation

The paragraph explores the connection between social media data and its use in political manipulation. It references the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where Facebook user data was used to create psychological profiles and influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The speaker also discusses the role of bots and computational propaganda in spreading political messages and manipulating public opinion. The paragraph further addresses the impact of social media algorithms on political discourse, noting how they can amplify extreme content and contribute to societal polarization.

25:10

🚫 The Dark Side of Social Media Influence

This paragraph discusses the darker aspects of social media's influence on society, particularly in the context of political manipulation and the spread of misinformation. It mentions the role of social media in exacerbating conflicts, such as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, and the potential for foreign interference in elections. The speaker also addresses the issue of different content strategies employed by social media platforms in various countries, suggesting a form of cultural manipulation. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the need for awareness and robust data protection laws to mitigate the negative impacts of social media.

Keywords

💡Data Privacy

Data privacy refers to the appropriate handling and protection of personally identifiable information (PII). In the context of the video, data privacy is a central theme as it discusses how social media companies collect and potentially misuse user data. The video mentions instances such as the data breach of Big Basket, where 20 million customers' data was stolen, highlighting the vulnerability of personal information and the need for stringent privacy measures.

💡Social Media Manipulation

Social media manipulation involves the use of social media platforms to influence public opinion or behavior. The video script alludes to this by discussing how data is used to target individuals with specific content, such as political advertisements, to sway their decisions or beliefs. An example given is the role of Cambridge Analytica in the 2016 US elections, where they used Facebook data to create psychological profiles and target users with content to influence their voting behavior.

💡Data Monetization

Data monetization is the process of converting data into revenue. The video explains that social media platforms offer their services for free and, in return, collect user data to monetize it. This is done by selling targeted advertising space based on the user's online behavior and preferences. The script points out that the owners of these platforms spend billions on data centers to facilitate this data collection and monetization process.

💡Surveillance Capitalism

Surveillance capitalism is a term used to describe a business model that involves the collection and analysis of people's data to predict and influence their behavior for commercial gain. The video script discusses this concept by explaining how social media companies track user activities, such as likes, comments, and browsing habits, to build comprehensive profiles that are then used for targeted advertising, which is a core aspect of surveillance capitalism.

💡Algorithmic Bias

Algorithmic bias refers to the systemic bias that is introduced by algorithms used in digital platforms, often leading to unfair or discriminatory outcomes. In the video, this is exemplified by the discussion on how social media algorithms promote content based on engagement, which can lead to the amplification of extreme or sensationalist posts over more balanced or factual content, thus potentially skewing public discourse.

💡Data Breach

A data breach occurs when unauthorized individuals gain access to sensitive information. The video script mentions the data breach of Big Basket as an instance where customer data was stolen, underscoring the risks associated with the collection and storage of personal data by corporations and the potential consequences of inadequate security measures.

💡Terms and Conditions

Terms and conditions are the contractual agreements users accept when using a service or product. The video script discusses how these are often lengthy and written in complex legal language, making it difficult for users to understand what they are consenting to, particularly in regards to data usage. It highlights an experiment where users were more likely to agree to terms without reading them, which can lead to unwitting consent to data sharing.

💡Behavioral Targeting

Behavioral targeting is a form of online advertising where content is specifically tailored to an individual's interests based on their online behavior. The video explains how social media platforms use data collected from users' activities to present them with targeted ads. For instance, the video mentions how ads for BMW might only be shown to individuals the system deems capable of affording such a luxury item.

💡Engagement Bait

Engagement bait refers to content designed to elicit reactions, likes, shares, or comments from users to increase its visibility on social media platforms. The video script discusses how algorithms often promote such content due to higher engagement levels, which can lead to the spread of sensationalist or controversial posts that may not be in the best interest of society.

💡Data Protection Laws

Data protection laws are legislative measures designed to protect the privacy and security of individuals' data. The video script suggests that stronger data protection laws are necessary to regulate how companies collect, store, and use personal data. It implies that such laws could help prevent misuse of data and protect users' rights in the digital age.

Highlights

Social media companies are accused of not only selling data but also potentially instigating riots.

Big Basket suffered a data breach affecting 20 million customers.

There are concerns about social media platforms eavesdropping on users' conversations.

Political parties are accused of manipulating public opinion by purchasing user data.

Facebook's role in the Myanmar crisis, where their platform was used to spread hate speech.

TikTok operates differently in China compared to the US, raising questions about content control.

The business model of social media is questioned, as they offer 'free' services while spending billions on data centers.

Facebook alone has 18 data centers costing over 20 billion dollars.

Data is considered more valuable than oil, with the potential to influence user behavior extensively.

Targeted advertising is a key revenue stream for social media, with examples like BMW ads being shown to affluent users.

Social media platforms are accused of controlling user attention and manipulating their decisions.

The importance of user data in the advertising industry is highlighted, with examples of how it's used for precision marketing.

Cookies and third-party cookies are used to track user behavior across the web, building detailed profiles.

The value of user attention is discussed, with examples of how it's monetized in various industries.

The role of social media in the 2016 US elections and the Cambridge Analytica scandal is explored.

The potential for social media to cause social unrest and riots, as seen in Myanmar, is discussed.

The influence of social media algorithms on user behavior and the spread of misinformation.

The potential for social media platforms to be used as tools for political propaganda and manipulation.

The importance of data protection laws and the need for better regulation of social media companies.

Transcripts

And the allegations on social media companies are not just selling data to politicians.

But even to cause riots.

Data of 20 million customers of Big Basket were stolen.

They can hear your voice when you talk to your friends through your mobile.

For some BJP is a threat to the country,

for some Congress is a threat.

And they are manipulating your decision by buying this data, and why am I saying this

So in Mayanmar at the time, Anti-Rohingya posts on Facebook were viral.

When Facebook knew riots were happening due to their post,

instead of stopping that content..

Tiktok keeps a different version inside China comparative to US.

See, we all use social media, Facebook and all.

For this we don't have to spend a single rupee.

But the owners of these social networking sites are maintaining data centres by spending billions of dollars.

So that we can upload photos and videos.

If we just talk about Facebook, they have 18 data centres,

which costs more than 20 billion dollars.

Just like this, every social media site has to spend billions of dollars.

Just then a networking site is able to run.

So in today's date when people sell air trapped inside a balloon,

why are these people giving it for free?

Now you can say, the data we use, they make money out it.

And some people believe that even if they take our data, we don't have such secret,

even if you take email-ids, name, we don't have anything to hide.

So see, it's not that simple.

Today you will get to know everything in detail.

How you are presented with the ad of what you are thinking

Why does BMW's ad only goes to that person who can afford it

Why not poor people?

And how do these political parties connected to this data?

Why are they after this data?

So we'll discuss all those things.

see in today's date, if I tell you to name the most expensive thing.

Then its one answer would be attention.

If you somehow get people's attention, then you will have lots of money.

There are all of these sports in India,

but cricket gets the attention.

Because cricket is the most watched.

That's why cricket has more money.

Even in cricket, the highest attention is of India-Pakistan match.

That's why in all of the matches, India-Pakistan gets the most money.

Whether its a movie, a product, which actor gets more money,

everything is decided by the one who has the most attention.

If you have a way by which you can grab people's attention,

then even you can get rich.

Because the products made worldwide, whether good or bad,

the company owners don't show off the product door to door.

But they show the product where people's attention is.

And that's how people get to know about that product.

If there's more crowd in one metro station and another has scarce crowd

then more money has to be spend to show the ad where people are more.

Now there are many ways to grab this attention game.

But since technology has upgraded, social media has come,

they've upgraded the whole game a lot.

In todays time, you can see, tech billionaires are plentiful in the richest person list.

YouTube, Twitter, Snapchat, Linkedin, every social media platform earns in billions.

Mark Zuckerburg of Facebook, Jeff Bezos of Amazon Larry Page of Google, Zhang Yiming of Tiktok

all of these tech billionaires are the most powerful people in todays time.

So basically what they did is, gave free social networking through their app,

gave entertainment for free and gathered people's data.

And then controlled people's attention with that data.

And played targeted advertisements.

In 2023, overall market size of social media is going to be 230 billions.

Many countries don't even have that much of GDP.

When you make an account on a social networking site,

then there's a deal between you and that social networking site,

and that deal is, you will give your data to the social media site and in exchange they will give you networking and entertainment.

During making of account, the small click that you do for the terms and conditions,

that is like signing a legal agreeement.

Which deals with that.

Doing this, the social networking site gather the world's data.

Make patterns from that data.

And observe your habits.

And give a platform to advertisers to sell their product.

You can understand it like this, you made a social networking site of yourself,

and gave it for free to the whole Delhi.

People are using it and are connecting within Delhi.

They are liking, commenting and the data is being collected from everywhere.

And before making an account, you clicked that they can use your data.

Like this, you get the data of people in Delhi.

Now you picked that data, and you get to know using data science and attention engineers,

that the people in area of CP in Delhi drink more coffee.

And are drinking at a specific time.

So what you did is, you went to a big coffee company,

you said to the company, there's no use of putting ads in TV, newspaper and banners,

give me your ads and I will show the ad to those who are addicted to coffee.

I know their every habit, I have the data and there will be more conversion from this

there's more conversion than your traditional advertisement ways.

And the ad given in newspaper is read only once or twice in the day,

and other time, it sits on the corner somewhere.

But a mobile is the closest to a person.

If you get into someone's phone, then how much more personal can you get?

So in this way, that's how a model, an upgraded version of advertisement was made.

Now you might ask, when we made the Facebook account, we just gave name, email, and age.

More so, we would give mobile no. for 2 factor authentication.

So how these sites get to know so much about us?

See when you make an account, you do give your basic details,

but what you are liking, which posts you comment,

how much time you are active,

which days you are not using it,

which locations you go to to use them.

The image that you post on social media,

using its exif data, your gps coordinates are known, which camera was used, file size, date, everything.

You can try it yourself.

Check your image's exif data online.

Then you will know how much detail your one picture has.

And all these details are saved by the social networking site.

These like, share buttons are actually working like trackers,

which continuously give your behaviour, your information to the social media sites.

These likes, comments, by sharing, the little data that you give about yourself,

if you don't give that to them, you are of no use to them.

In that case, these social networking sites will not allow you to use them.

In 2018, Facebook CEO said in an interview that if a user wants their data to be not used,

then in that case they have to pay to use this platform.

Earlier when you used to login to a website, you would have to enter your details repeatedly.

That is, logging in to a webiste by entering data, then when you again open the site, you have to login again.

Everytime when you used to go to a website, the website would treat you like a unique user.

The webiste wouldn't have a memory of itself,

so it would not know whether the person the same as before.

Then a man named Montulli brought cookies,

today when you go to a website,

they ask you to accept cookies.

They take your permission.

Just as you accept it, the website saves your details in the browser.

These cookies act like the memory of a website,

assume you went to the website of Times of India.

Here you accepted cookies.

Here all your detail will be saved.

Now when you go to the website again, the website will remember your detail.

This website has your data saved, whatever details you have added.

Then assume you went to a shopping website, there you had to fill out details of your card,

then that website will remember that details, then there are also third party cookies,

where these parties communicate themselves.

When you go to website, you can see there's a Facebook like button,

and when you like, it would land on their Facebook,

so those are third party cookies.

So that's how they stay connected,

and the information is shared with everyone.

So with the help of these cookies, the information that you give to every website,

they track all of these.

The website that more people go to, will have more attention, more data and more money.

That's why websites try to get you to their website.

To become their user, so that more of your details gets to them.

The more no. of users, the more data and the more money.

And when users get to a website once,

then this website goes direct to advertisers and doesn't show ads,

but between these advertisers and websites are Google Adsense,

or Facebook Audience Network,

or Mircrosoft Advertising.

Or Amazon Advertising.

Everyone has their own.

But their work is the same.

They are kind of a middle man.

Between website and advertisor.

Their work is to put releavant ads on the website, and show the users.

Now all these things are done through third party cookies.

See here I opened Times of India website myself,

the ad on the side, if I go to a website of shoes,

and search continuously, then the next time I go to the Times of India website, then I can get an ad related to shoes.

That's how all websites are connected through third party cookies.

Now you can say, they are just showing ads,

we won't buy from them, we will buy from outside.

You can understand the whole thing like this,

you decide with your mom and dad to buy shoes for school.

And even before you go out, the whole market knows that you will buy shoes,

and the seller who shows ad by giving more money,

through middleman, only their shoes will be shown.

So that's the reason, why people's data is more valuable than middle east's oil.

In 2017 in The Economist, a report was published where data was considered more valuable than oil.

Now since the data is valuable, hackers attack from different sites,

and steal data.

For doing identity fraud.

Assume you made a profile on Ola or Uber,

and attacking their server, hackers steal your data.

And after stealing it, hackers either sell the data or do identity fraud.

Like in 2021, hackers stole 4.5 million customer data.

These guys were maintaining the data for years,

by creating user accounts.

Hackers came and took all the data.

That's how 20 million customer's data of Big Basket was stolen,

and was sold to the dark web.

And there's a lot of possibility that your email id or card details, might have been attacked.

So you can check on a website called, haveibeenpawned.com.

So you can check on your email id, whether the email id has been compromised or not.

And this is not a small thing because they also do phishing attacks and all after stealing data.

The data that has been collected, using this your behavior and next actions can be controlled,

and this is improving day by day.

Using this data, who you are dating,

which job offer you have, which insurance you have,

who can pay, who cannot pay, who can click on which advertisement,

which political party they support, what are their religious opinion, which one they will vote.

All of these things can be known.

I will explain to you, what I am saying.

There was a girl in Paris, Juda.

So Juda used Tinder after her break up,

and when she was using it, she had some dissatisfaction about her profile's rating,

so she sent a lot of emails to Tinder, for 6 months continuously.

To send my data, I want to check whether you are doing correctly or not.

Europe's data protection law are a little strict,

so if you want, you can do that there.

So after continuously following up, sending emails,

Tinder sent 800 pages of data,

using Tinder for just a few days, they had collected 800 pages of data.

Juda was surprised very much after seeing that data.

Because what Juda didn't know about herself, Tinder knew more about that.

From that data we got to know, how many days in the week she was feeling lonely.

Which type of guys she likes, during which time she was more attracted towards boys.

How many messages, sent to which guy.

She celebrated New Year alone,

what's her music taste, location, likes, dislikes, every inch of her detail,

was with Tinder.

Now you can think, if you get so much detail of someone,

then how easy is it to manipulate it.

Their political opinion, want them to click on certain advertisement,

how easy would it be.

Even the social media companies have been inquired about, they can listen to your voice through the device.

Even though it was not proved, but there is an inquiry on this too.

The YouTube channel of CNBC, there's a whole inquiry, we don't use mobile devices microphone.

You should surely see that video.

Actually what was happening with people was, whatever they were talking about to their friend on the phone.

next day, or after few days, a product related to that would appear in front of them.

Even though this was not proved,

but the social media company has improved their game a lot.

If the wife is searching washing machine inside the house,

then the guy who earns, if its the husband, he would be recommended washing machine ad.

If he has the same wifi.

Browser history, search history, social media activity, location, demographic data.

Your behavior, the content that you are watching, the products that you are searching can be known with all these details.

And according to that you are shown targeted advertisement.

And your psychological profiles also get updated.

First you liked this, now you like this.

And I am taking Facebook again and again because Facebook is famous,

besides, whenever I talk I am talking about all the platforms.

All the social media platforms.

Before making an account on social media, when you click yes on the terms,

after that they get eligible to take your data.

That's why terms and conditions are made in a very boring manner.

Many legal terms are used in it, which requires a lawyer to read it.

That is, its very difficult to be read by a normal person.

Their platform are very simple to use,

so that you get stuck to it.

But terms and conditions are like that,

a person gets stuck hours trying to read it.

That's why people click yes without reading.

These terms and condition are intentionally made 20,000 words long,

its format is also made intentionally boring.

Whether its property agreement or court's document,

they are shown like that, so that you don't feel like reading it.

In 2017, professor of New York University Jonathan and Annie,

made a fake website of namedrop for an experiment.

In this they joined 543 students,

and made same terms and conditions like social media companies,

and intergrated on this app.

And in these terms and conditions, they added one thing in paragraph 2.3.1,

those who click yes on the terms and conditions, their first child, will be legally of namedrop's first owner.

They did this because they wanted to see how many people would say yes.

Except 1/4 of the students, everyone else clicked yes on the terms and conditions.

There have been multiple discussions on these terms and conditions,

Facebook has said multiple times to make strict rules to keep user's data safe.

That is, Facebook won't misuse our data, Facebook will make strict rules itself for that.

That means, every user is alone in this fight for data

even the government has is not supportive.

You might have seen nowadays, people post, I do not give Facebook permission to use my data.

That will do nothing, because you have already agreed to give the data in the terms and conditions.

In 2013, there was a documentary, Terms and Conditions may apply.

You should see it.

They showed how social media companies leak your data and misuse it.

How they sell it.

There's a lot of competition in social media companies themselves too over attention.

The platform with the most users, there will be more activity on that platform,

and more attention and more data can be collected.

That is, more profit.

And after collecting more data, they make patterns from it,

so that they can more accurately guess, what the next step of the user will be.

That's why all of these social media companies have the same aim,

for which they work day and night, to get you stuck however to their app.

The owner of Netflix said that Facebook, Google are our competitions,

but the market is very big, our greatest competition is the person's sleep.

Because that's the time, when no algo works on the user.

And if you look carefully, every social media company hires the best mind, best strategist,

and just get them to make you stuck to their app.

And they have also been successful for the most part.

Earlier you used to go out with your friends,

have fun, now you give that time to the mobile.

You used to go to the ground to play, now they have that time.

Even if there's a line for a minute and you have to wait,

then immediately mobile is in everyone's hands.

In fact, if there's an ad in the movie hall, mobiles will come out and they get that time too.

Once you used to think while sitting in the washroom,

nowadays they have that time too.

People don't even go to washrooms without them.

Even the husband wife of today now sit with their own mobiles.

So they get that time too.

You might have also heard about partners having fight,

that they are stuck to the mobile.

Many people's boss also get mad because their employee are on the mobile.

That is, people are betting their foods to know what is going to happen in the next reel.

And there can be no bigger addiction than this.

When you sleep in the day, they just have no code for that, else they have world's best attention engineer

and got your time and attention on these apps.

They won't let you realize, you will open the phone for just a notification and you won't know when you get on reels.

You search educational videos on YouTube,

to see something useful, and you won't know when you reach shorts.

If you understand this carefully, some special attention engineer,

or some big minded, owners of company,

sit in the Silicon Valley of California and decide where the attention and interest of billions of people would be.

A person's attention is where they create memories from.

If someone else has the control on attention too,

then that's not our life.

Like capitalism left only weekend to live.

Just like that, when you get old, you won't even have your memory.

These trends on Twitter, Reels,

these will be the memories.

By showing the ad and selling the product, even then its alright.

But with this data, your social and political behavior is also controlled.

Using technologies like big data and data mining

large amount of data, that is, the behavior of a population and their pattern is understood.

Then they are shown targeted content.

Such content, that the social media company's interest get fulfilled.

A few years ago, what used to happen is, the friend that you used to add in your profile,

the creator that you would follow or subscribe,

you would be shown only their content.

But nowadays, even though you are following anyone,

but social media platform would recommend you content themselves.

If you watch good content, your growth would be good because of it,

that is not important for the social media company,

what's important is for you to stay on their app.

That's why, analyzing you data, that type of content is served for you that gets you stuck for longer.

The whole content is designed like a casino's slot machine.

There's a surprise for you on every scroll.

In the hopes of finding something new next time,

people spend 4, 5 hours on these apps.

Notification is intentionally made red color,

if they set it to blue then its not that tempting.

So if you keep mobile even besides you, and one notification comes,

then you just unlock the mobile once,

after that their engineer will rest only after getting you on reels.

And if you spend 1-2 hours on reels,

then there's such a high dopamine release, that it gets difficult to focus on other works.

Those who read books or students, you will notice focus instantly after seeing reels is very difficult.

Those things are recommended more which you believe in more.

If you are from right wing then you are automatically suggested more content from right wing.

If you are from left wing, then you are suggest left wing's content mostly.

And since, only one side's information is known,

people's opinion get more strong due to this.

They start to believe that what they think is right.

For some BJP is a threat to the country,

for some Congress is a threat to the country.

There's no middle path.

Because the users are getting information only that they want to listen to.

And when there's a netural platform with some information,

when all the users meet there,

there is a very strong reaction there, there are fights.

And this type of polarisation suits the social media company.

If you see, no person comes to Facebook to watch outrageous political content.

People want to connect to their friends, for entertainment or to learn something.

But if that's what the users will be given,

then they will leave the platform early.

That's why the social media company doesn't keep your feed calm and compose

instead keeps it fast paced and outrageous.

Because fake news is interesting, conspiracy theory is interesting,

but the truth, learning is boring.

The data that social media companies have, political parties are also very interested in this.

And buying this data, they manipulate your decisions.

And why am I saying this?

Let me show you with an example.

In March 2018, The Guardian and New York Times published a report,

in which they got know that Facebook gave data of 50 million users to a company called Cambridge Analytics.

Now Cambridge Analytic was hired by Donald Trump.

And with the help of this data, Cambridge made a psychological profile of them,

and due to that, they found the no. of supporters of Donald Trump and those who just need a little push to support Donald Trump.

And when all this data was made, after that Donald Trump's content,

on a daily basis, day and night, was shown to these users

and due to that 87 million people became pro Trump.

The data was of 50 million but with the help of this data, the people and friends connected with you,

even their data was fetched, that's why more people were converted.

But when that news came out,

after that Mark Zuckerburg starts hearing with US House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.

The whole hearing is on YouTube.

You can see it.

So for this, Facebook was fined 725 million dollars in 2022.

And after that Facebook took full page advertisement in US and UK,

on the front page and apologised to his users.

Like that, Ireland data protection commission, fined 1.2 billion euro due to that data.

Russia showed content to 126 million people in US and manipulated them in 2016 elections.

These allegations have also been in India,

but you can search, because they have not been proved so it's not right to speak about it.

And there are not just allegation of selling data to politicians,

but allegations to even cause riot.

Amnesty International, this is an international NGO.

It published a report where it told that due to Facebook, riots rose in Myanmar.

Actually the Facebook algo promoted more engagement posts and videos,

it does not matter what the impact on society is.

They just care about engagement and profit.

So in Myanmar at the time, Anti-Rohingya posts were viral on Facebook.

And those were viral too much and Facebook's algo were promoting it very much.

Due to these posts, many riots were caused,

and people also lost lives.

The allegation on Facebook is that when they knew their posts were causing the riots,

then instead of stopping that content, why were they promoted more.

A whistle blower, Frances, who was an employee of Facebook,

she had leaked 10,000 internal document.

Then they got to know that Facebook already knew about all of this,

but even then they were promoting it.

A member of Rohingya comittee gave an offical statement,

like the rest of the world lived, they wanted to live like that as well,

but Facebook shattered our dream.

The algos of social media companies are designed in a way

where there is more engagement, that means like, comments, share are more,

it will promote that more.

And this engagement is most on extreme and outrageous posts.

Now if I tweet that Rohit Sharma is a very good player,

I like him a lot.

On the other hand if I tweet, Rohit Sharma is the greatest player of the time

there was no one like him, nor will anyone be like him,

and those who don't believe it are idiots.

Now tell me which post will get more reaction, more engagement, more attention?

That's why you will see, those who make far right content,

or those who make far left content,

they grow more quickly.

And it's not like some fishes spoil the pond,

but the whole system and algo is designed in a way that the dirty fishes are the ones who get rewarded.

That's why those who speak hate and one sided, quickly get into limelight.

Melissa Ryan has been an election strategist,

who used to study the strategies of election.

She said that the ugly content works more.

And the whole algorithm which works according to user activity

if some politican or powerful person wants, can easily manipulate it for running computational propaganda.

That is, they can viral news favourable to them.

Due to which that party will get an advantage,

the main part of this is bots.

These that you can see in many websites, that reply themselves,

if you say, hello, they will reply you themselves,

so those are bots, they are not humans.

So like this, many lakhs, crores of bots account are created.

And running your propaganda using those bots gets very easy.

Assume you like cake very much and thought you will like all the accounts with cake.

Now for that, you have to search cake accounts, then see their posts,

then you have to like.

But instead of that, you can make an account, add some automated script into it.

Then it will search all the accounts itself and do like, shares, message.

And this thing is called bot.

So with these bots, if something has to be spread about a political party,

to tell about a party, this is included with China.

So you can message multiple times using these bots.

Trend can be run, comments can be made.

Which creates an environment.

Assume some country wants to get out of an environment deal due to some obligation.

Then using paid meme pages, and bots account,

you can create an environment on social media with some sigma music.

See these countries themselves have been using AC for so many years.

And now they are trying to explain to us.

So using all of these things, any country's people's opinion can be changed.

If they are going for war, if you want to show some policy is right.

So all of these things are used.

And this trend is getting dangerous day by day.

You can notice, earlier there used to be talks about manifesto, policies

but now, which politician is popular, which politician has the attention is very important.

And some countries use these social media sites as tools.

To back pedal some countries.

You must've heard of ByteDance which is a China company, owner of Tiktok.

It keeps the version of Tiktok in China completely different than in the US.

It is right now banned in India, so I will tell by giving US example.

The Tiktok that runs in China, if someone younger than 14 years uses it,

then videos like science experiments, country's culture, are shown.

Educational videos come.

There is even a limit of 40 minutes per day.

But the same Tiktok shows different content in US.

And such videos are played there which they don't get to learn, they get dumber.

And how much of an impact this things has,

let me explain to you with an example from a survey.

A survey was conducted in US which was published in CNBC.

In that maximum children of US wanted to become influencer.

And in China, when the same survey was conducted,

children there wanted to become astronauts.

Now see this video that I have made is not to scare you, or to leave social media.

This video is made to increase awareness.

To tell you the things that are happening,

and when the next time data protection bill comes in parliament,

you would know how important this bill is.

That's why the video is made, and its not like showing ads is a bad thing

or social media is wrong, there have been countless benefits of social media.

If I start counting, it would be night. So many.

People stay connected, you can contact dozens of people in emergency.

There are a lot of benefits.

In fact even this content that you are seeing, you are seeing it for free because there are ads running on it.

Otherwise you'd have to pay.

And due to this, many poor people were benefited.

Many people learned coding for free.

Made their life better.

But how it can work in actual and what are its negative sides,

how they can be harmful, that is what I have tried to discuss.

And I have even tried to bring a solution to this video for you.

I tried to search a lot, tried to talk to experts,

but the truth is that there's no perfect solution to escape it.

You can delete the app, you can leave the phone, there are bank apps,

transaction, you are doing offline shopping.

We are so interconnected that your data will get here or there.

So right now the only solution that the government brings some good data protection laws

that all of these things get in control

Thank You!