The power of Big Tech only seems to be growing as the pandemic has shifted work, education, and social life online. Large tech companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google are both being praised for providing valuable services and publicly criticized for unjust labor practices, wealth hoarding, and allowing misinformation to spread on digital platforms. Today […]
Social Media Benefits and Snapchat Filters
Tonight’s episode of the Perpetual Notion Machine looks into the use of social media mostly by international college students, plus how Snapchat filters can play into a person’s self-image. Our guest is Yanzhuo “Amy” Niu, a Ph.D. candidate in UW-Madison’s Department of Educational Psychology. She talks with PNM’s Josh Mitchell about her studies into how […]
Living with Big Tech
The internet is dominated by five companies: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. And it’s not just online—these giant tech companies are behind a lot of the smart devices collecting information about us every day, from Amazon Echo to robot vacuums to even “smart” toothbrushes that many consumers are bringing into their homes. Today on […]
A Police Officer Walks into a Facebook Hate Group
Earlier this month, the story broke that border patrol agents were participating in a secret Facebook group where they joked about the death of migrants, made racist comments about members of Congress, and posted vulgar and offensive images. But it turns out that this was only the tip of the iceberg. A team of reporters […]
Facebook anti-trust actions
Monopolies typically result in customers paying more money for products and services. What about Facebook — users don’t pay money, but they pay in other ways… with internet tracking and loss of privacy. Jan speaks with Dina Srinivasan about her recent article in the Berkeley Business Law Journal on anti-trust actions against the internet giant.
Dark Money and Stealth Media
Each year, fewer and fewer Americans consume broadcast and cable media, while more and more consume digital social media. In 2016, paid political advertising on internet social media platforms like Facebook dwarfed their broadcast counterparts to the tune of $1.4 billion in 2016. But with the Supreme Court lifting spending caps on so-called issue ads […]
