Transnational Social Media Companies Put Democracy at Risk: Ñañez
Venezuelan Communications Minister Freddy Ñañez (L), Aug. 20, 2024. Photo: X/ @EmprendePhoto
August 20, 2024 Hour: 2:46 pm
They are progressively taking over the role of the State, warned the Venezuelan Communications Minister.
On Tuesday, Venezuelan Communications Minister Freddy Ñañez highlighted the need for legislation regarding social media, warning that their owners are threatening democracy.
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“Transnational corporations managing social media have not only usurped the role of traditional media but are also progressively taking over the role of the State. This puts democracy, as we know it, at risk,” he said, and explained that these corporations use communication technologies to achieve forms of social control never seen before.
“Social media has the ability to whisper to each person in every country what the algorithm determines that person wants to hear, thereby dissolving the possibility of a collective truth and a stable state of opinion,” Ñañez pointed out.
“That’s why it’s time to legislate on this matter. I’m not talking about prohibitive measures, but something deeper: creating social awareness about how dangerous these tools are for individual health and democracies.”
Ñañez explained that the primary task is educational and formative since, although social media may appear to be playful, they are designed for espionage and data theft. All this happens, however, while giving the user the illusion of freedom of expression.
“Cognitive warfare is the ability that some have to influence an individual’s feelings. From there, it becomes impossible for a person to have their own thoughts. Through social media, we are being programmed by corporations that analyze emotions based on the content we consume. They erode our ability to think, taking away our right to decide,” he said.
The Bolivarian minister illustrated the social media’s harmful effects by mentioning what happened during the 2024 Venezuelan electoral process, in which far-right politician Maria Corina Machado was constructed as a leader despite lacking genuine leadership.
“After the defeat in the presidential elections, the far-right turned to influencers to save face. However, influencers do not represent the reality experienced in the streets. Even when influencers have a significant number of followers, they are only consumers of content.”
The Venezuelan communications minister recalled that hate speech against the Bolivarian revolution has been rampant for two decades, but social media now amplifies and transforms it.
“Since the time of Commander Chavez, the far-right has promoted the narrative that we live in a dictatorship where there is only repression. Now, in addition to that narrative, there are emotions manipulated and carefully studied by the algorithms applied on social media,” he said, adding that social media ultimately seeks the depoliticization of society.
“They are the breeding ground for fascism. That is why Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro constantly calls for making politics with a capital P,” he said, emphasizing the need to provide real and substantial content to collective political action.
Finally, Ñañez urged parents to recognize that excessive use of social media destroys the playful development of young people. “Today, the world is living through a truth crisis because Elon Musk does not care about freedom. He is interested in using social media to generate products that bring him wealth,” he concluded.
teleSUR/ JF Source: VTV
