Yesterday, I was browsing my Instagram for some old photos and videos I took a few years back from a Disneyland trip.
I tried to download them and found out I can’t, or at least not without requesting permission to download my images from Instagram.
Why do I have to request permission to download my data?
This is when I realized that Instagram and other social media networks are not data storage centers for my uploaded content but highly centralized, corporate-owned public squares that function like a modern marketplace of ideas. Access comes at a price.
What exactly defines a centralized platform? Are these platforms ultimately beneficial or harmful to users?
These platforms operate under a centralized model, which means that a central authority manages the data, functions, and algorithms that comprise them. Platforms like X, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram use this model to conduct business. They grant users access to their online communities as long as they agree to their terms of data management.
Social media sites offer people across the country and the globe the opportunity to discuss and debate matters of public importance, an act essential to a healthy democratic society.
They are also a great place to advertise your OnlyFans page and view random cat videos.
Highly centralized platforms offer users global connectivity and communication advantages, fostering communities and facilitating the spread of information. They enable discussions, build relationships, and facilitate connections and interactions.
On the negative side, these platforms are businesses that profit by keeping users engaged with their content and advertisements. They accomplish this through algorithms that often prioritize content aligned with a user’s existing beliefs, creating echo chambers that reinforce biases and contribute to political polarization.
These algorithms can also encourage the spread of misinformation and disinformation, potentially jeopardizing public health and eroding trust in legitimate sources, institutions, all in the name of profit.
Of course, ownership of data uploaded to these sites is questioned. In general, copyright law supports the notion that you own the content you post on social media, but the rules for accessing it and whether these sites can commercially exploit it vary based on their terms and conditions.
Should we depend on social media owners’ goodwill to protect us and our data?
A 2014 Pew Research survey found that 91% of Americans either “agree” or “strongly agree” that individuals have lost control over how various entities collect and use their personal information.
About 80% of social media users expressed concern about advertisers and businesses accessing the data they share on these platforms.
Relying solely on the goodwill of social media owners to protect user data is not a dependable strategy. While these platforms are responsible for safeguarding user privacy, business interests often influence their actions, which can clash with user safety.
User data is extremely valuable.
Platforms might not prioritize security measures that could affect their business model, such as targeted advertising.
Is moving to a decentralized platform an option?
A decentralized social media platform where user data isn’t stored on a single server but instead is distributed across a network of servers operated by various individuals and organizations. This model shares control and ownership among users rather than concentrating it in a single entity.
This decentralized structure is believed to defend against hackers and provide users’ sovereignty over their data.
Social media sites like Mastodon are built on a network of independent servers where users can create accounts and interact with each other. Mastodon has no algorithms to curate feeds. Instead, users see posts chronologically. Users also have control over data privacy settings.
While these sites offer freedom and control over data access, the lack of central moderation can lead to issues like the spreading of misinformation and unregulated hate speech.
Should the government intervene in some way?
64% of people polled by the Pew Research Center believe the government should take more action to regulate advertisers and social media platforms.
But what does that kind of intervention look like?
The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution places significant limitations on the laws the government can enact to regulate speech, including misinformation and hate speech.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act grants online service providers immunity from liability for content posted by third-party users, further limiting government regulations regarding social media platforms.
The government is limited in its actions to create regulations regarding data accessibility and ownership.
Although one option could be to require centralized platforms to offer data portability of conversations, allowing users to take their data and relationships with them, rather than being locked into a single platform, referred to as interoperability, this could allow a user’s data to flow from one platform to another, eliminating the need for a centralized control platform.
This type of region could heavily burden social media platforms, potentially impacting their ability to innovate and compete. By removing the centralized power regulation, it could further the spread of misinformation and hate speech.
Government intervention may not be the best answer.
Ultimately, who owns what we post on social platforms?
This can depend on whether the platform is a monetized, centralized business to which I granted authority over my data to access their online community. Or a decentralized platform where I upload data to user-controlled servers.
The short answer is I do, and so do you, but it can vary from platform to platform based on the license to use it as outlined in their terms and conditions.
With Instagram, I agreed to access their only community, having to fill out an online request form to get access to my data. I decided to follow this rule. If I do not like it, I can leave the platform and seek my online community elsewhere.
If I want my Disney data from Instagram, I am going to have to fill out their form, I guess, or screen shot haha suckers.
