Internet both benefits and harms society

Why is Bill C-10 important?

Reasonable people see benefits to some sort of legislative control over how the internet works — to make it less monopolistic and if we can, less harmful.

The business model of the internet is fully mature and highly profitable. Big-data algorithms produced and accumulated by this type of business model give the platform almost omnipotent power as a marketing tool to identify, target and amplify.

Internet companies track us, collect and analyze our choices and personal information, then sell the use of that data to enable others to target us with persuasive messaging. They sell our attention and their ability to keep us glued us to our devices. When this powerful tool is in nefarious hands, it causes a lot of social or political damage.

Our danger lay in that social media seduces all comers. Sometimes it achieves our attention by meeting real world needs, — it is a useful tool; but too often it achieves our attention by serving up and then amplifying material that provide strong emotional responses. Multi-media platforms parse opinion and create false equivalency they say enhances dialogue, but instead it merely confuses people and erodes our shared understanding of history.

Though some fault lay within ourselves. Today envy, stress, anxiety, loneliness and unhappiness are by-products of the internet.

The internet insulates and isolates, alone it’s easier to stumble down one of many rabbit holes of baseless Mad Hatter conspiracies, tribalism and extremist’s group-think forums and loose our way back home.

Pew Research found, one-in-four Americans believe Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. Here, it is instructive to pay attention to how easy lies are sustained by social media and how amplification can unmoor millions of Americans from fact-based-reality; common ground becomes elusive.

Here in Canada’s Senate, Conservative delay passage of Bill C-10 over misplaced concerns about freedom. Bill C-10 is meant to level the playing field, forcing internet giants to share ad-revenue with traditional broadcasters for content.

The new Federal Court ruling on the right to be “de-indexing,” also moves in the right direction, but more regulation is needed. It is apparent (to me) the internet business model as it stands today, both benefits and harms society. Hopefully Bill C-10 will lead to many more needed measures to clean up and temper this powerful business model. Jon Peter Christoff

West Kelowna