Cooking the Books podcast: How consumer pressure can force social media change

Social media companies have attracted criticism for not doing enough to stop online radicalisation. Photo / file

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's whether voting with your wallet can push tech giants to change. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Listen to "Can voting with your wallet force social media companies to change?" on Spreaker.

People power has never been so needed, after a horrifying attack on New Zealand and our Muslim community.

Fifty people are dead, and many more injured, and everyone is asking how on earth this happened.

The power of the community coming together has already been demonstrated in countless candlelight vigils across the country, showing that we will not be divided, and will stand together to protect those who need it.

But what about some of the hard choices that will come next? Can people power help there too?

There are serious questions to be asked about how the shooter was able to livestream 17 minutes of mass killing.

More questions about how it was then spread across other platforms.

What seems inescapable now is that radicalisation is happening in our midst, especially online.

Social media companies are built to keep you on the website, and engaging with the content.

An unfortunate side effect of this is the algorithms tend to lead people to more and more extreme content: vegetarian recipes to vegan activism, hunting tips leads to survivalists prepping for the apocalypse, and now it seems some people are being led to white supremacist violence.

The killer's video and manifesto made it clear that this particular attack was for an internet audience.

It's sparked a backlash, with companies pulling their ads from the social media giants.

There are also calls for a 50 hour Facebook boycott on Friday, with one hour for each of the victims, in the hopes of forcing the company to take more responsibility.

So what are the best options for those of us who want change?

On the latest podcast I spoke to NZ Herald business and technology reporters Chris Keall and Damien Venuto.

We discussed why the social media companies have been implicated in the attacks, what options these companies have to change, and how individuals can make the biggest impact to get the attention of tech giants.

For the interview, listen to the podcast.

If you have a question about this podcast, or an idea for the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.

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