Description
Product ID: | 9780190056544 |
Product Form: | Paperback / softback |
Country of Manufacture: | US |
Title: | Antisocial Media |
Subtitle: | How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy |
Authors: | Author: Siva Vaidhyanathan |
Page Count: | 336 |
Subjects: | Communication studies, Communication studies, Media studies, Disability: social aspects, Political structure and processes, Impact of science and technology on society, Digital and information technologies: social and ethical aspects, Social media / social networking, Media studies, Disability: social aspects, Political structure & processes, Impact of science & technology on society, Ethical & social aspects of IT, Social networking |
Description: | Select Guide Rating This is the story of how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life just a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging. It''s an indictment of how "social media" has fostered the deterioration of democratic culture around the world, from facilitating Russian meddling in support of Trump''s election to the exploitation of it by murderous authoritarians in Burma and the Philippines. If you wanted to build a machine that would distribute propaganda to millions of people, distract them from important issues, energize hatred and bigotry, erode social trust, undermine respectable journalism, foster doubts about science, and engage in massive surveillance all at once, you would make something a lot like Facebook. Of course, none of that was part of the plan. In this fully updated paperback edition of Antisocial Media, Siva Vaidhyanathan explains how Facebook devolved from an innocent social site hacked together by Harvard students into a force that, while it may make personal life just a little more pleasurable, makes democracy a lot more challenging. It''s an account of the hubris of good intentions, a missionary spirit, and an ideology that sees computer code as the universal solvent for all human problems. And it''s an indictment of how "social media" has fostered the deterioration of democratic culture around the world, from facilitating Russian meddling in support of Trump''s election to the exploitation of the platform by murderous authoritarians in Burma and the Philippines. Both authoritative and trenchant, Antisocial Media shows how Facebook''s mission went so wrong. |
Imprint Name: | Oxford University Press Inc |
Publisher Name: | Oxford University Press Inc |
Country of Publication: | GB |
Publishing Date: | 2022-01-13 |