Will social media platforms click “Like” for this year 2021? If you consider the increase in their users and income, probably. But certainly not from the point of view of their image, strongly tarnished by many controversies.
Laxity with regard to disinformation, personal data leaks, major breakdowns, accusations of toxicity for young people: in 2021, seismic activity was intense for social networks, especially for Facebook.
The first shock came very early, with the assault on the Capitol in Washington, after which experts pointed to their “indirect role” in this explosive equation. The tiles then accumulated – between hacks, flourishing conspiracy and public figures leaving the digital ship – to the height of mistrust: the outbreak of the Facebook Papers, revealing in broad daylight the dark side of the Zuckerberg empire, with the testimonials and the disclosure of thousands of documents by Frances Haugen, a former product manager of the company.
PHOTO BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
Former Facebook employee Frances Haugen has transmitted numerous documents showing that those in charge of the platform have privileged the search for profits and sensationalism to the detriment of user safety and the veracity of information.
A consortium of journalists was then able to dissect this data, in which we learned in particular how the managers of the platform had allowed the algorithm to favor hateful and controversial publications to the detriment of effective moderation. The impacts of Instagram on the self-esteem of adolescents were also raised. Various possible solutions, however sketched out internally, would have been ignored, for fear of harming the growth of the company in terms of audience and revenue.
According to Nadia Seraiocco, lecturer at the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), 2021 is part of a crescendo of events that began in previous years. “It’s a situation that has been boiling for a long time. When we think of the Cambridge Analytica affair or the wave of boycotts in the summer of 2020, we see that awareness had been raised. But even if we suspected, we never had proof of the operation of these mechanisms, because the algorithms of social networks are black boxes, ”she recalls.
The Facebook Papers affair is for her the highlight of the year, the emergence of exhibits representing a significant level.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Nadia Seraiocco, lecturer at the Media School of the University of Quebec in Montreal
By mechanics, by journalists’ tests, we already knew that there was something wrong with Facebook. But there, we had the proof.
Nadia Seraiocco, lecturer at the Media School of the University of Quebec in Montreal
“With what Frances Haugen has published, we understand that there is a very great carelessness,” she adds. For example, we learned that very strong emotions, such as “angry” and “wow” emojis, were preferred in the posts’ rating system. ”
Over-mediated social networks?
For her part, digital communications strategist Nellie Brière says that 2021 has indeed been a annus horribilis for the image of social networks. But according to her, this situation is partly the result of journalistic overexposure, the traditional media hitting at the slightest opportunity on the nail of these platforms which have gradually eroded their income.
“A kind of trench warfare has set in, and who is suffering? The journalists. It will tint the way they cover this kind of information. Anything that worries generates interest in the media: saying Facebook is the devil pays off. This explains why the image of social networks has been extremely damaged, and not always legitimately, ”says Mme Briere.
Settling scores
This has been seen previously, but 2021 has seen its share of personalities slamming the door of social networks or lashing out at them: Safia Nolin resumed her Instagram withdrawal in February; Dany Turcotte declared himself a checkmate Everybody talks about it by denouncing their pressure (“Disturbed by several social media storms experienced over the years, my confidence has gradually eroded”); the mayor of Verdun has abandoned the idea of a third term, exhausted in particular by online attacks; the ex-player of the Canadian Brandon Prust left Twitter, after having unleashed a storm …
PHOTO GRAHAM HUGHES, ARCHIVES THE CANADIAN PRESS
Dany Turcotte left the show Everybody talks about it by denouncing the pressure of social networks.
Not enough to smooth the image of these platforms. “This has an impact in the sense that I see, more than before, more and more people taking breaks or reducing their online presence”, notes Mme Seraiocco. “When it comes from people like Dany Turcotte or other stars, it makes people think about it, who realize that we can abstain from it,” she continues. Exits that are likely to worry Facebook: “They have a serious image problem, and even if it does not yet affect their income too much, they must fear that it will end up doing it. ”
Here again, Nellie Brière qualifies the picture by pointing out the particular situation of these big names, which amplify the negative echo. “Public figures bear the brunt of the negative aspects of social media, and their words carry a huge impact. It is very appalling when you are Dany Turcotte or Safia Nolin, but in a network of friends and family, it is not the same reality. This has greatly tinted this negative image, ”she emphasizes.
Image at half mast, boundless success
Controversies have not halted the growth of social media in 2021.
400 million: is the number of additional users captured by social networks between October 2020 and October 2021, an increase of 9.9%
9.2 billion: Facebook’s net profit in the third quarter of 2021, up 17% from the previous year
Sources: AFP, We Are Social
Actions for 2022?
Faced with the challenges raised, such as the proliferation of conspiracy and disinformation, which have found fertile ground in social networks this year, will the actions of the platforms be sufficient to approach 2022 calmly? We have seen pages and accounts be closed over the year, especially on YouTube, warning messages appear, but also custody changes (Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, has just passed the management torch ). But according to Nadia Seraiocco, lecturer at the School of Media at the University of Quebec in Montreal, “public relations operations” will not be enough. “Closing a few pages and accounts is fine, but if the basic mechanics are still there, it’s the structure that needs to be reviewed. ”
A stormy year 2021
- January: the Capitol is stormed by supporters of Donald Trump. Experts accuse Facebook and Twitter of having served as their back base. Twitter permanently excludes Donald Trump.
- Mid-January: A change in WhatsApp’s terms of use sparked an uproar, raising fears of an attempt to collect and share data.
- February: personalities, such as Dany Turcotte and Safia Nolin, denounce hatred on social networks.
- April: Some 500 million LinkedIn accounts are hacked. The data of 500 million Facebook accounts, hacked two years earlier, is published on a forum.
- June: A new LinkedIn leak affects 92% of users, or 700 million accounts. Donald Trump is banned from Facebook for two years.
- September: the Wall Street Journal publishes a series of damning articles based on internal Facebook documents provided by an anonymous source.
- September: The project for a version of Instagram aimed at children is put on hold.
- October: an outage of more than six hours paralyzes Facebook and its platforms Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger. The action falls on the stock market.
- October: Whistleblower Frances Haugen steps out of the shadows, and a media consortium gains access to thousands of embarrassing documents for Facebook. The company, which retorts that the portrayed image is false, shortly after announces a name change: Meta.
- November: Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, cedes his seat to Parag Agrawal.