Tale as old as time with tech... still waiting on that chat interoperability!
this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2026
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what are the examples of this happening before?
"Algorithm" is not a synonym for "recommendation system".
It wasn't. But now it is.
It isn't, though, despite popular conception among those who don't understand computing.
Any attempt to legislate this shit must be crystal clear and leave no room for technological ambiguity.
It is though, because of popular conception. That's how language works.
For your average Joe, yes, that is how language does and always has worked. Their level of education, understanding of the subject matter, etc. will have a massive impact on how our words shape the world.
Outside of that context? No. Law, medicine, engineering, science, etc. still exist and the nature and meaning of our words will continue to be important.
AI is not a synonym for large language model machine learning, but here we are. Language changes, sometimes for the ~~stupid~~ worse.
And yet every single person reading that headline knew what it meant.
How is the starvation going? I assume when you go to the store with a shopping list that says "bread," you stand in front of the bread rack slack jawed. "White bread is not a synonym for bread," you shout! "Wheat bread does not encompass all breads!" I assume you stand there paralyzed for hours until the clerks finally call the mental health authorities to have you escorted out.
It's more comparable to say "let's ban products from stores" instead of saying a specific product or ingredient.
An algorithm is just "if this then that", which is impossible to write software without (not assuming you don't know, just for anyone else reading).
Definitely fascinating how algorithms are equated to freedom of speech. I can understand if a person makes an expression that their freedom to do so can be an issue. But an American social media company's algorithm developed over time for various designs, including addiction and maximum engagement, is probably not the kind of expression that most people would consider speech.
Even raising the issue suggests that these social media companies have engaged in a form of censorship on their own. We've all been exposed to various degrees of this censorship. For example, those of us who watch YouTube are aware of the platforms restrictions on the use of certain words like suicide or COVID. Content creators have gone so far as to either self-censor the word entirely, or use new alternatives to circumvent the system, like "sluercide", "self-delete". At some point these types of circumventions may even be heard in real life even if there is no need to self-correct in this way.
So I find it incredibly bizarre to see one of the arguments against trying to regulate social media companies at all would be "censorship" or "freedom of speech". Our global communities have already been subjected to mass censorship. We're bombarded with bot "farms" intended to observe and manipulate these algorithms.
We're not talking about freedom of speech anymore...we're talking about propaganda in small and large scale operations. We're talking about surveillance, we're talking about the need for the human right of true, real discourse vs watching people literally enchant themselves into some algorithmic LLM psychosis. We're trying to have a real discussion about a form of warfare generally referred to as psychological operations at a massive scale.
No one cares about my or your Uncle's opinion on vaccinations and his unhealthy fixation on ivermectin. We should all care about how his time on American social media turned him on these topics.
If only there was a place without algorithms controlling the content in our feeds. Lemmy see, where would that be?
So forcing social media companies to let their users decide which content ends up on their feeds is censorship. Got it.
Please do Opt Out if “AI” features of software and platforms.
An Off Switch?
Those are illegal.
Sure
based based based
"You have now successfully switched off all of the allegorithmics. From now on, our platform will definitely stop forcing content on you via algoreisms. Which has been our lucrative business model for many years.
No more algae rhythms. Trust me bro."