Meta trial, digital stewards, and your brain on AI.
I'm piloting a new format -- send me feedback, pls & ty!
Welcome back to Untangled, a newsletter about our sociotechnical world, and how to change it.
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There are two new pages on my site:
FAQ: Ever wonder what in the world I mean by terms like ‘sociotechnical’? Stop by the FAQ page.
Deep Dives: I’ve written 40+ Deep Dives (i.e. long-form essays that interrogate a topic like ‘AI hallucinations’) and want to make them easy to find.
I’m piloting a new format today — send me feedback by replying to this email.
Is Meta a monopoly?
This week, the U.S. government argued in court that Meta squashed competition in the market for “personal social networking” when it bought Instagram (2012) and WhatsApp (2014). FTC lead litigator Daniel Matheson argued that Meta was struggling to build a mobile app, so it overpaid for Instagram, which was growing much faster than Facebook at the time. This aligns with CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s longstanding mantra that "it's better to buy than compete."
This would be an easier case for the government to prove if it were 2012 or 2014. Back then, Facebook was indeed focused on ‘personal social networking’ or helping you connect with friends and family. But the government didn’t bring legal action then. Today, the government has to convince a judge that Meta’s “core value proposition” is in “personal social networking,” which according to the government only includes Meta’s IG, WhatsApp, Snapchat, and MeWe. (I had never heard of it either!) But Meta’s business has grown and evolved over the years, and so too has the market. TikTok, Blue Sky, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Substack — just to name a few — are all arguably now competitors. Indeed, it’s not a stretch to argue that the market has become more competitive in part because of ongoing antitrust pressure by the U.S. government.
That said, the FTC’s case has one big thing going for it: emails from Zuckerberg. See, the government ultimately has to prove that executives didn’t make a big bet on Instagram and WhatsApp and get lucky, but intended instead to preemptively kill competition. And Zuckerberg’s 2012 emails — where amongst other things, he wrote that Facebook could buy Instagram to “neutralize a potential competitor” — suggests the government has a shot. (More)
Why — monopoly or not — all consumers would benefit from having more choice and control over their feeds. (Untangled Deep Dive)
‘Artificial Intelligence’
Autonomy & Liability: New report offers classification system for autonomous agents. As human oversight lessens and AI agent exercises more autonomy in executing a task, the authors write, the more liability developers and companies should bear. (More) Why “fully autonomous AI agents” is an incoherent concept and why we need a ‘sociotechnical approach’ to determine liability (Untangled Deep Dive)
Your brain on AI: Microsoft study finds that people who rely on generative AI in their work use less critical thinking, which leads to the “deterioration of cognitive faculties.” The researchers also find “higher confidence in GenAI” among knowledge workers is “associated with less critical thinking.” (More)
AI Hype, Two Ways: Leading scholars —
and — offer a roadmap to cut through AI hype (More). Also, we need to separate traditional hype from ‘criti-hype’ or “critiques that are “parasitic upon and even inflates hype” as Lee Vinsel explains. (Untangled Deep Dive)
Media & Technology
Digital Stewards: Local online spaces require ‘digital stewards,’ new governance models, and alternative funding mechanisms. (More) What it takes to build healthy online communities (Untangled Podcast)
Smaller is better: What might the future of the internet look like? Research finds that “power is shifting back to the consumer” and people want more community, control, and authenticity online. (More) How to govern speech fairly on anti-democratic platforms (Untangled Deep Dive)
Middleware: New report details how to cultivate a thriving middleware market and give users more agency over what they see on social media platforms. (More) How middleware addresses the network effects of dominant platforms, and reduces the problem of amplification. (Untangled Deep Dive)
Course: Sociotechnical Systems Change, April 26-27*
After two live, online, interactive sessions, you’ll be able to:
See clearly how power shapes your system.
Anticipate how emerging technologies like AI shape (and are shaped by!) your system.
Map the complex dynamics of your system.
Develop strategies to reimagine and change your system.
*Early bird pricing ends tomorrow, April 18.
You’ll come away with key skills to analyze and change the system you’re in and a 90-page workbook full of 30 exercises and tools to help you put them into practice.
Systems & Strategy
Embrace uncertainty: Discomfort and embracing uncertainty is key to any strategy process. (More) Uncertainty is definitive of any complex system, and is not the same thing as risk. (Untangled Deep Dive)
Be “centered, not certain”: In a rapidly changing world, replace being certain with being centered, writes Jessica Kiessel of (re)Pattering Labs. Pottery offers a guide to steady and re-center oneself, so that you’re anchored amidst change (More) A framework for acting amidst this moment: build, block, be. (Untangled Podcast)
Strategy is not planning: Strategy is making hard decisions toward a specific direction without knowing the future or assuming causality. Planning is “deciding the order of actions in already-interpreted situations,” as Vaughn Tan writes. The two are often confused but mistaking one for the other gets you in trouble. (More) How to design strategic interventions within a power-laden, complex, tech-mediated social system (Untangled Course)
“The least questioned assumptions are often the most questionable” - Paul Broca
Why Untangled? Because there is no such thing as a ‘tech problem.’ All ‘tech problems’ are entangled in social systems structured by power and inequality. If we don’t untangle the two, we perpetuate the status quo in the name of innovation and progress. My job is to help you untangle your system, and teach you the strategies, skills, and tools to change it.
On Sunday, I’ll be back in your inbox with a new Guide: How to anticipate different community uses of technology.
Okay, that’s it for now,
Charley
I really like your new format for the newsletter! 👍🏽