Journalist Maria Ressa named Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in speech at Hay literary festival in Powys

Journalist Maria Ressa named Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in speech at Hay literary festival in Powys

“Tech bros” such as Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are “the largest dictators”, Maria Ressa, who won the Nobel peace prize in 2021 for her defence of media freedom, has said.

The American-Filipina journalist has spent a number of years fighting charges filed during then president of the Philippines Rodrigo Duterte’s administration, but said Duterte “is a far smaller dictator compared to Mark Zuckerberg, and now let me throw in Elon Musk”.

Speaking at the Hay literary festival in Powys, Ressa said Zuckerberg and Musk have “proven that we all, regardless of culture, language, or geography, have far more in common than we have differences because we’re all being manipulated the same way”.

Social media platforms have the ability to “change the way we feel”, she said, which in turn “changes the way we see the world and changes the way we act”.

Ressa said conversations about identity politics online have caused similar instances of polarisation across the world. These debates encourage “the kinds of questions that we think are our free will” – but they are not, Ressa said.

    • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
      26·
      6 months ago

      Similar deal in Australia, the media diversity laws were axed by the conservative government and we’ve been seeing the consequences since.

    • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
      18·
      6 months ago

      And all six have Blackrock, Vanguard, and State Street on their boards. They’re the same investment companies that sit on the boards of nearly all major US corporations, due to the investments they make with our retirement accounts.

        • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
          1·
          6 months ago

          Since Reagan started taxing Social Security, 401k and IRA became the most common. Most businesses offer some degree of matching contributions to a 401k, so that’s free money. IRA offers a higher return, so there’s an annual contribution limit to prevent exploitation. Both are tax deferred. Roth IRA is ideal, with a tax free withdrawal after retirement, but also has the lowest annual contribution limit. It’s best to start one as early as possible, and maximize annual contributions.

  • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
    16·
    6 months ago

    There’s a great documentary on Netflix called The Great Hack on Cambridge Analytica’s mass manipulation of Facebook users to influence multiple votes, including Brexit and the 2016 US Presidential election. Most people think they’re immune to the influence of propaganda. They underestimate the level of detailed understanding that social media companies have in a psychographic profile. Influence is not commonly achieved by bombarding the user with misinformation. It’s uniquely curated information, based just outside the individual’s existing beliefs, repeatedly baiting or nudging just a little at a time until a new perspective is formed.

    Social Media companies began generating psychographic profiles as early as 2010. It’s a safe assumption that they can very easily push a nationwide agenda with very little effort today.

  • Red_October@lemmy.world
    41·
    6 months ago

    Well there might be something to the idea that their ability to manipulate culture by controlling social media has dramatically wide implications, but I don’t think I’d really call them Dictators. Facebook and Twitter might be doing a lot to manipulate voters, but also nobody’s going to take me out behind the shed and shoot me for not using either one of them.