‘Killing with a smile’, is an old idiom that is not hard to understand. It basically means destroying someone physically or mentally while the victim completely trusts the aggressor.
Something similar is happening on social media. Most of the social media platforms have a hidden agenda, rather two.
First is corporate and the second is national.
Their corporate agenda is obviously to make money for their shareholders, by any means available. Their platforms are designed to be addictive, both for the creators and consumers. Constantly scrollable interface ensures the user remains hooked to the platform. The algorithm quickly learns the content preference of the user and feeds exactly that to them.
The more time they spend on a platform, the more money the platform makes.
For content creators, there is more sinister game that the algorithm plays. It will often give very encouraging visibility to new content creators, sometimes unexpectedly high. This triggers a desire within the creator to post more content. As their handle gains momentum, the creator is tempted to devote more time and resources, sometimes entire careers, to content creation on the platform.
Once the platform’s algorithm is fully convinced that the creator is completely hooked, the rankings and the visibility drops, prompting the creator to work even harder. They consider this drop temporary and attribute to some mistake or policy change. They start devoting more time and resources to bounce back. Having tasted success once, they are quite sure it is possible to succeed on the platform as a content creator and earn decent money.
If at all the creator starts to loose interest, the algorithm quickly discovers that and gives another dose of success, reinforcing the creator’s belief that the performance drop was only temporary, coaxing them to start putting in effort again.
It is a never ending loop of hope that the creator gets caught into, wasting time and resources. It is almost like getting addicted to gambling, hoping that a breakthrough is just around the corner.
Coming to the national agenda, majority of social platforms are based in the United States and the country wants to weaponize and use them against developing countries, especially any country that poses a threat to the US’s supremacy.
They use social media and their addictive nature to build narratives in target countries using the power of social media algorithms. The algorithms decide what content gets priority and what is suppressed. That way they can influence foreign elections, incite protests and unrest and indirectly control the narratives.
They use algorithm as an invisible tool to derail a country from its growth trajectory.
Not just that, they use social media and its algorithm to hollow a society from within by taking charge of their time and weaning them away from productive activities. Often people are seen scrolling social media feeds endlessly, even during their productive hours, often impacting their performance at work or studies.
The social media platforms do not leave any space in the users’ minds for creativity, positive thinking and constructive approach.
The social media algorithm is built robust and foolproof. The trap of posting and waiting for affirmation in the form of likes and views is inescapable, even for the most mature individuals.
Social media is a psychological warfare that the companies and their home countries are waging against developing countries. The governments, people and the victims need to make note and beware of the trap before it is too late.
Vineet Gupta is the Founder and Managing Editor of PuneNow, where he leads editorial coverage on Pune’s civic developments, local infrastructure, traffic, and urban governance. With an academic background from the University of Wales and professional experience across journalism, hospitality, finance, and academia, Vineet brings a unique perspective to hyper-local journalism. Based in Pune, he is passionate about empowering residents with accurate, timely news that affects their daily lives, while also offering insightful commentary on mindful living, parenting, and community connection.
