platformed racism– aoir 2016
TRANSCRIPT
Pla$ormed Racism The media1on and circula1on of an Australian race-‐based
controversy on Twi<er, Facebook and YouTube
Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez PhD Candidate––@andairamf
Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC) Queensland University of Technology
Platformed racism: o Is informed by the socio-cultural context in which social media platforms are created and
developed as technologies, and has a double meaning;
o It evokes platforms as amplifiers and manufacturers of racist discourse;
o It describes the modes of platform governance that reproduce (but can also address) social
inequalities
Libertarianism, romantic capitalism and privilege
“thinking about making babies (…) is fun. (…) to change their diapers (or buy them or wash them or dispose of them or manufacture them or pay for those diapers), is not”
(Borsook, 1997, p. 6)
Platforms as amplifiers and manufacturers of racist discourse
Platform governance & inequality
Unclear rules “We encourage free speech and try to defend your right to express unpopular points of view, but we don't permit hate speech “ YouTube “We allow humor, satire, or social commentary related to these topics [e.g. race, gender], and we believe that when people use their authentic identity, they are more responsible when they share this kind of commentary” Facebook
Chain of liability
Arbitrary enforcement of rules
A picture of two elder Indigenous women showing their breasts in a traditional dance is labeled pornographic by Facebook and taken down
Images of the AFL star Adam Goodes comparing him with Harambe do not violate Facebook’s policies according to the platform
Case study: The booing of Adam Goodes Politics of refusal (Simpson, 2014)
Old and new forms of humour
YouTube
“Here Goodes. Your retirement song”
The importance of metrics and un-curated comment space
Twitter Facebook YouTube
“If a black kid booed a white player would he be called a racist, not likely. You would think this is the first player to be booed and how does a boo become a racist remark, absolutely ridiculous. Victoria the Nanny State, we are pathetic. Boo boo boo what a stinking sook”
Green: AFL related pages Blue: AFL Footy Show Purple: Today TV show Pink: 7News Melbourne Grey: Herald Sun Orange: Richmond Turquoise: ABC Light pink: The Project
Sam Newman on Goodes acting like a ‘jerk’ (822 comments) Eddie McGuire King Kong (384 comments) Alan Jones: Goodes is 'always a victim’ (47 comments)
Algorithmic shape of sociability Facebook YouTube
Notice & take down processes
YouTube
Platformed racism emerges from the Adam Goodes case study as the entanglement between the governance and ideology of platforms, their technological affordances and the user practices that they mediate; o Platformed racism operates differently on each platform
o E.g. Twitter ‘sensitive media’ filter vs YouTube thumbs down & Facebook and YouTube recommendation algorithms
o E.g. Different actors involved in these conversation (e.g. Mainstream media role on YouTube)
o Platforms as amplifiers and manufacturers of racist discourse o Users appropriate platforms’ affordances––policy and filters––to disguise racist humour; and
o Social media platforms’ features and algorithms facilitate the circulation of overt and covert hate speech;
o Modes of platform governance that reproduce social inequalities o Un-curated comment space– hate speech remains online despite platforms’ policies;
o Chain of liability; and
o Lack of transparency – e.g. Platforms’ lack of information in their notice and take down processes obscures the scope and type of racist abuse
Conclusions
References
- Borsook, P. (1997, December 3). The Diaper Fallacy Strikes Again. Retrieved 1 September 2016, from http://www.paulinaborsook.com/Doco/diaper_fallacy.pdf
- Burgess, J., & Matamoros-Fernandez. (2016). Mapping sociocultural controversies across digital media platforms: One week of #gamergate on Twitter, YouTube and Tumblr. Communication, Research & Practice.
- Gillespie, T. (2015). Platforms intervene. Social Media+ Society, 1(1), 2056305115580479. - Ford, T. E., & Ferguson, M. A. (2004). Social Consequences of Disparagement Humor: A Prejudiced Norm Theory. Personality and Social
Psychology Review, 8(1), 79–94. - Simpson, A. (2014). Mohawk Interruptus: Political Life Across the Borders of Settler States. Durham: Duke University Press. Retrieved
from - Streeter, T. (2011). The Net Effect: Romanticism, Capitalism, and the Internet. New York and London: New York University Press. Suzor,
N. (2010). The role of the rule of law in virtual communities. Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 25(4), 1818–1886.
• Pictures
– https://thoughthub.com.au/2015/07/28/the-real-reason-adam-goodes-is-booed/ – http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3222400/Steve-Jobs-didn-t-know-technology-just-wanted-important-Steve-Wozniak-
claims-business-partner-played-no-role-design-early-Apple-devices.html – http://blog.emojipedia.org/new-to-emojipedia-samsung-facebook-emoji-one/
• Tools – Rieder, B. (2015). YouTube Data Tools. Computer Software. Vers. 1.0. N. p. https://tools.digitalmethods.net/netvizz/youtube/ – Rieder, B. (2013). Studying Facebook via data extraction: the Netvizz application. In Proceedings of the 5th Annual ACM Web
Science Conference (pp. 346–355). ACM. Retrieved from http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2464475