Re:Anti-vaxxers get around Instagram’s new hashtag controls
by reaperducer on Sunday December 22, 2019 @08:10AM
(#21856948)
WHY would anyone who is genuinely unsure and looking for information on vaccinations either search instagram or even make it there and be exposed to these hashtags. It's not exactly an information rich platform.
Because not everyone is personally information-rich. Just like back when large groups of people thought AOL was "the internet," there are people now who believe Facebook, or YouTube, or Instygram are "the internet." And those silos are their only source of information.
What are their alternatives, now that the internet has killed information?
Libraries are inconvenient (few locations, short hours; some of the libraries in my county are only open for a few hours two or three days a week). Outside of a few large cities, there is no more radio news. Quality TV news is hard to find. In large swaths of the United States there isn't a local newspaper anymore, and even if there was, you couldn't buy it (There must be 50 Starbucks in my city, but not one sells newspapers anymore. The other coffee shops followed suit. No papers at gas stations or supermarkets, either anymore. If you want a paper, you subscribe or go to the airport.)
The masses followed the information and their friends and ended up in social media hell. It's only natural for the organizations trying to target them to go there, as well.
Because not everyone is personally information-rich. Just like back when large groups of people thought AOL was "the internet," there are people now who believe Facebook, or YouTube, or Instygram are "the internet." And those silos are their only source of information.
What are their alternatives, now that the internet has killed information?
Libraries are inconvenient (few locations, short hours; some of the libraries in my county are only open for a few hours two or three days a week). Outside of a few large cities, there is no more radio news. Quality TV news is hard to find. In large swaths of the United States there isn't a local newspaper anymore, and even if there was, you couldn't buy it (There must be 50 Starbucks in my city, but not one sells newspapers anymore. The other coffee shops followed suit. No papers at gas stations or supermarkets, either anymore. If you want a paper, you subscribe or go to the airport.)
The masses followed the information and their friends and ended up in social media hell. It's only natural for the organizations trying to target them to go there, as well.