Dr Archi Dubey, Educator, Trainer, Researcher, Associate Professor, School of Commerce, Management and Research, ITM University, Raipur, archid@itmuniversity.org
The digital public square has turned into a lawless wasteland. Today, platforms such as YouTube and Instagram are known as digital junk food factories, although they were once regarded as a space for expressing the genuine self. Quality, research, and even truth has been systematically replaced by cheap tricks which only serve to keep users hooked. The most alarming part of this decay is not only that content continues to erode daily, but no one is watching the store. Users are constantly exposed to the feeds of millions of impressionable viewers, who face no real regulation or platform safety measure.
Today’s poor online content is a complete lack of meaningful oversight. The principal platforms function as enormous, unchecked regions where all is permitted as long as it attracts clicks and screen time. AI-powered algorithms are supposed to make sure the quality of the information on social media, but they simply cannot see the fine-line deception. They often miss out on potentially dangerous financial scams, confusing deepfakes and hyper-edited body standards and have often closed down harmless everyday speech. The official regulatory watchdogs have guidelines and rules for ethics and ad transparency, but they do not have the technological capabilities, personnel, or legal power to censor billions of uploads every day. These platforms leave basic safety to their users, and the manual reporting process is used to clear the platforms, which are mostly damaged by a viral video weeks after it has been released.
This negligence has paved the way for a large ecosystem of low quality, automated content to prosper on YouTube. Thousands of channels generate fake documentaries, fake voiceover news reports and bizarre videos directly aimed at kids without undergoing any kind of pre-publication process and using inexpensive AI resources. Meanwhile, anyone who claims they are an expert or health specialist or an expert in investing or making money presents dramatic thumbnails with promises of miracle health or instant riches, and no scientific or financial expertise. Millions of viewers spend their time and money on dangerous misinformation, and YouTube makes a cut on top of the ad dollars. YouTube does not have a real-time factual verification process, and viewers spend time and money on dangerous misinformation, and YouTube eats its way into the ad revenue.
Instagram is also become an unregulated source of insecurity and dramatic outrage. Photographs are heavily edited, luxury cars are rented, and images depicting lifestyle are created with a specific purpose in mind – to make viewers feel their life is lacking and push them to purchase items they don’t need. The short-form reel algorithm on the platform is designed to inflate shared posts and offensive hot takes with angry comments, as well as push for staged arguments and for toxic gender debates. These recommendation algorithms are unchecked by any independent panel to consider the psychological damage they cause, and they continue to make people’s attention span ever shorter and damage the public’s mental health without any consequences.
Influencer marketing exists in a similar no man’s land, with audience trust used as a commercial weapon. While guidelines are in place to explicitly state the presence of a sponsorship, creators frequently still keep the labels in small text or make them difficult to find in a video’s captions. However, unqualified influencers promote often high-risk crypto schemes, illegal gambling apps, and untested health supplements directly to teenagers and susceptible younger adults, and are fully aware that no digital authority is dedicated to holding them accountable in real life.
It’s unacceptable for billion-dollar tech companies to profit while neglecting to keep an eye on their own ecosystems. The digital public space must finally be restored with the establishment, now, of independent, powerful digital oversight commissions that have the legal power to carry out live audits of recommendation algorithms. Any platform, no matter how much money it makes, should be held directly accountable to a heavy financial penalty for the global revenue they generate when they spread fraudulent ads, fake images and harmful information. In addition, financial, legal and medical advice must be legally required to have a professional accreditation before monetization is allowed. If corporate negligence is not replaced with strict and continuous vigilance, the online world will keep on steadily decaying.