The Web3 Era

5Soul Beyond Face Value

Would you be able to trust humanity if the whole world was decentralized?

Social media may have started with the noble idea of connecting people, and in a way, decentralizing media to give people more freedom of speech. It disrupted the industry by severing the hold that traditional media had on advertizers, but social media has since made the world an angrier and more destructive place littered with misinformation.

With censorship that favors ruling military dictatorships, algorithms that amplify negative content and are inefficient in identifying fake news, and with the addictiveness that corrodes mental health, social media platforms are a far cry from the utopian world of free speech they promised.

While platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have not been spared criticism – Elon Musk infamously pulled out of buying Twitter as he did not believe their share of reported bot accounts (he followed through with the purchase several months later), Instagram linked to teen depression, and TikTok removing content that is unfriendly to China – it should be noted that Meta (in particular, Facebook) has racked up the most cases of misconduct. As such, it will be heavily examined in this chapter that relates to the social aspect of online interaction as well as commerce and regulations.

Meta, the largest social media conglomerate in the world with Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and numerous other products and services under its belt, has been the ...