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Online safety 2022: 8 things that need to happen
Whistleblowers play an important role, but at this point in digital tech and media history, we need more than a single individual’s perspective — even if it’s an insider’s perspective. Yes the company Frances Haugen and Sophie Zhang worked for is huge, but it’s still one company. For policymakers and others looking to increase social media safety for all users, they—we all—need to look at the forest, not just an individual tree, no matter how big the tree is.
Now, in the early days of the metaverse, with whistleblower-fueled awareness of social media’s problems and heading into a new year, we need to widen the aperture. Systems thinking is needed.
Because we have a systems problem on our hands. Even Meta, a global company with multiple platforms and billions of users, is a system within a larger system. So is social media. It’s a global ecosystem whose problems and vulnerabilities need systems thinking to be solved — and it too is a system among other systems: governments, institutions, traditional media, etc.
Systems problem-solving needs big-picture thinking by as many stakeholders, perspectives and forms of expertise as possible. So let’s cut to the chase. What does a systems-thinking lens show us needs to happen in the new year for safer social media for all?
