Yes, we need social media reform. Let’s start by purging algorithms

“While we are fiddling with technology to ban kids from accessing it, we could just force them to ban algorithms. It would be a good first step,” writes Charlotte Mortlock.

In five years from now, I have no doubt we will look back on TikTok as a weapon of war. A product created in China, under the watchful eye of the Chinese Communist Party, TikTok is deemed too dangerous to be legal in its own country; it is not only banned for children in China, but also for adults.

It might not look or sound like a weapon of war but its ability to weaken other countries is equally as potent. It certainly feels like what it is doing to the collective psyche of the largely Western world is tactical. People who think this is an innocent entertainment app because it throws in a frivolous dance routine here and there are not alive to the propaganda they’re constantly being fed.

It’s actually hard to comprehend why so many countries naively welcomed the app into the homes of their citizens without any scrutiny or guardrails. Our own stupidity is to blame.

While I’m relieved to see governments finally motivated and alert to the impacts of social media, I have been incredibly frustrated by the lack of conversation around algorithms. I’m unsure whether it’s because the word is 10 letters long and might require some explaining, or if it’s not buzzy enough to cut through. But I believe this is the most sinister element of social media.

While we are fiddling with the technology to ban kids from accessing it (which billion-dollar companies insists they lack the resources to be able to figure out), we could just force them to ban algorithms. It would be a good first step in the interim.

In China, the equivalent of TikTok is Douyin. Do you know what the algorithms send their teens? Science, history and educative material. Could you imagine if the content they were feeding our children was that constructive?

No doubt Douyin material has a healthy dose of CCP propaganda, making all citizens love their country more and love their government more, while outside China it does the opposite, fuelling hatred of ourselves and our own countries.

TikTok is dominated by 10-19-year-olds, and the average user age is 24. Last year it came to light that some 20 per cent of Americans aged 18-29 think the Holocaust is a myth. Around the same time dozens of TikTok influencers posted videos expressing sympathy with Osama bin Laden, which went viral.

The algorithm is the driving force behind all viral content and, strangely, while there is intense scrutiny on the flaws and atrocities of the West, I am yet to see the sterilisation of and genocide committed against millions of Muslim Uighurs (at the hands of China) garner much traction on TikTok.

I am not advocating for the pendulum to swing the other way, I am advocating for the force behind the pendulum – the algorithms – to be turned off entirely in Australia so people can sit with their own thoughts and feelings instead of being fed lunacy.

Despite knowing the negative impacts of its product for a decade, just last month Meta rolled out a suite of changes for teen users. It is sad and pathetic that Meta couldn’t have done this of its own accord, but instead was dragged kicking and screaming, and then threatened by governments with a blanket social media ban for young people.

Alas, my real gripe is that despite making changes to the social media experience of young people, the one thing Meta didn’t touch is algorithms. And that’s because they’re its biggest money maker.

It is the algorithm that creates addiction, the algorithm that drives engagement, the algorithm that drives a profit. And at the end of the day, Meta clearly values its bottom line more than it does young malleable brains who are committing suicide, getting depression, and being radicalised online.

Mark Zuckerberg

Just this week, a bipartisan cohort of more than a dozen states in the US sued TikTok for deliberately creating an app to be addictive and resulting in rising rates of depression, eating disorders, anxiety and suicidal ideation.

I hate the algorithms because I think they are sending people to the fringes and down dangerous rabbit holes that are polarising our society. Not only do I believe it’s ruining democracy, I believe it’s ruining cohesion and unity.

The algorithm is making young girls hate themselves, young boys hate women, and people hate their own country. Isn’t it strange the rise in hatred of our own has been in line with social media use?

I don’t agree that social media is a “take it or leave it” situation whereby we have to accept the tech giants are incapable of rectifying any of their well-known and dangerous attributes. Everything about them is carefully constructed. I don’t accept that their products are so rigid they can’t amend them.

People who spend hours of their day (the average is seven) idly scrolling on apps and absorbing whatever content and ideology are spewed at them – instead of spending time with their loved ones, taking care of their health, being outdoors, or doing something constructive – need to get a grip and stop being so trusting. If you get a yucky feeling at the end of that scroll, like you just wasted precious time, it’s because you did. And not only that, you gave it away for free, at the expense of your own wellbeing, to people with a vested interest.

Charlotte Mortlock is executive director for Hilma’s Network, an organisation recruiting women to the Liberal Party.