The solution is to treat big tech media companies as publishers.
What non technical people have lost complete and total track of is this plain simple and salient fact: Even a search result page is just a published HTML page.
It is not magic, it is not “dynamic” it is a statically served single HTML page, which may be a different or new page, depending on who is doing the search. BUT it is still just a static HTML page.
Technically, a search result, multiple search results and all social media page(s), are all PUBLICATIONS.
Each page you view is simply a page (of some or other document type or standard). Even some of the apps on your phone are all some or other form of publication.
So all of it is some sort of publication.
Whether it is specifically tailored for you matters not. It is the same as you receiving a printed news paper, filled with content, just for you. No matter that it is your cousing, brother, sister or anyone else providing the content, it is still just published content.
The multinationals must be responsible for each and every letter they publish, distribute, store and syndicate.
Even search results are editorialised publishing as it is the “opinion” of the search company that determines the order and content of search results.
Recently, GOOGLE advised that they no longer would be accepting complaints about GMAIL ABUSE via email (something which made me quite angry, but then, suddenly they decided that they will accept emailed abuse complaints about their email abuse, so BLEH. – They will probably change their mind again next week. Regulation but no enforcement options are like old lions with no teeth.)
So anyway, my point is that: GOOGLE wants to be a relay-er of email but it tries not to accept complaints about its own abuse. How this works is that managing abuse means you have to be mean to your users. (Forcing them not to stalk people, send spam, do criminal stuff and lots more) Google wants to keep its costs down as much as possible but still dominate and be the largest relayer of email communication on the planet. The larger Google and Microsoft (Outlook.com) becomes in the email space, the larger they will become until there are only two players. Already, between Google & Microsoft they relay around 70? 80? percent of ALL EMAIL on the Internet. They behave predatory and do not have this monopoly because they provide a “better” service or “better” product. They have this monopoly because of the underhanded business tactics they have deployed and operated over a period of over a decade.
The challenge is that big tech companies are simply too powerful, they do what they want, when they want and have enormous resources. In the above example of Google, they want to relay email BUT they do not want to accept the FINANCIAL cost of their own abuse.
The multinationals do not want to be responsible for what they publish or for what email they relay. They want to accept as little as possible in terms of expenditure and responsibility for their publications or behavior. They frequently muddy the waters when confronted, they stir and mix in various issues and generic human problems, instead of accepting the very basic principle: They are fully responsible for anything they host, display, distribute, provide, deliver or publish.
Small companies, individuals and others are expected to behave in a certain fashion: Not to be abusive, not to realy spam, not to empower criminals and more. The sanctions for breaking the rules are heavy. Small companies and individuals are FORCED to be responsible for their actions, their behavior and their content.
Somehow, under some convoluted logic, large tech companies are somehow “special”
Why?
“They” are mostly a gang of sometimes accidental bullies and most of the time opportunistic and very extreme in their quest for dominance and control.
“They” engage in a semi open fashion, powered by armies of real, good and actually very nice people. They all actually believe that they are good, great and ethical.
In truth, they are not.
And, to make things worse, they are not objective and their “armies of real, good and actually very nice people” are subjectively involved. When you are the problem and you are not able to see that the unacceptable solution is your own destruction, life is challenging for you. You will justify your own existence and your own value, worth and goals, no matter how you have to lie to yourself.
