Do you want to fix Facebook, Instagram and social media? Settings is the solution

In the recent period, there have been increasing complaints about the default settings that social networks install on user accounts for one explicit goal, which is that these companies benefit from the information provided by these settings.

These settings, such as location tracking, may be useful for some applications such as the delivery application, but their usefulness to the user on social networking sites is much less than their usefulness for these platforms. But is there a way to change these settings to work for us as users?

In a report published by the American Wall Street Journal (WSJ), writer Jonah Stern said that most people do not change the default settings in social media applications or any other applications.

For example, changing the like setting and video view count on Instagram can make the difference between a healthy social media environment and a toxic environment that has a negative impact on mental health, especially for children.

And not only this setting, the ready-made social media settings keep you in touch with your feeds and personal data. Many of these default settings benefit Facebook more than the user.

According to the report, Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne initially refused to comment on the default settings problem in the company's applications, but after testing the setting of hiding likes on Instagram on a group of users, some of them found that hiding likes is beneficial for mental health, so the company published in May /may It gives the option to the user in case they wish to change the default setting.

In two subsequent sessions in Congress, lawmakers asked how Facebook and Instagram work, specifically the ways in which the apps and algorithms are designed to connect younger generations.

The author says that many lawmakers have argued that the tactics of these platforms are similar to the tactics of major tobacco companies to promote their goods.

The report says that unlike cigarettes, social media has real benefits, but its drawbacks are bad enough that a wide range of people across the political spectrum agree that solutions are needed to stop this bad influence. It turns out that some of these solutions are already on our phones, but have been buried away or discontinued.

But what if the laws changed that? And forced companies to give freedom to users to change settings?

Reduce addiction

What would a non-addictive social media app look like? Just read the Kids Internet Design and Safety Act, she replies, — also known as the KIDS Act — which aims to protect people 16 and under from manipulative marketing techniques, dangerous design features, and malicious algorithms.

In one of its articles, the law says, "We must ban push notifications, we must ban autoplay, and we must ban these types of marketing tools that these platforms are currently using."

The report says that anyone who wants to take a break from the endless social media chute knows that disabling some of these features can help stop addiction, but first you need to know how to change these settings. For example, did you know that you can pause all Instagram notifications for up to 8 hours in the app? You can do this by going to Settings, then Notifications, and tapping Pause all.

Select Algorithms

The report explains how algorithms power and rank shares in our accounts. Years ago, Facebook and others moved away from time feeds that sort posts from newest to oldest.

Now what we see is arranged by computer systems that use our personal data and habits, to decide which content will be most attractive to us.

This isn't always a bad thing. You don't have to put up with hundreds of potentially boring posts, but these same systems can spread bad content and misinformation.

Facebook offers a "recent" or time feed, and gives you the option to turn off the default setting, but despite the company's efforts to improve it, the setting on an iPhone is still hard to access and doesn't work as intended.

Nor does Instagram offer an alternative to a chronological feed. On TikTok, besides the addictive algorithm-powered For You feed, there is the Next feed, which only shows the accounts you follow. Even on this feed, TikTok is still using algorithms to show you the videos it thinks you'll want to watch the most.

The report believes that user selection of controls alone will not solve the problem of amplifying algorithms, and therefore pushes some legislators to further regulate the algorithms themselves, and to review Section 230 of the Electronic Publishing Act, which is the law that protects online platforms from being responsible for published harmful content on their sites. The Justice Against Malicious Algorithms Act, introduced last week, is the latest example.

Limit data collection

The report states that in the Instagram app, if you go to Settings, then Ads and click on data about your activity from partners, you will likely find information that is shared with advertising providers on Facebook.

This means that, in the background, Facebook uses data about you from other apps, websites, and even the real world to determine which ads are relevant to you. Similar settings are enabled on TikTok, Twitter, and Snapchat.

The report says some newly proposed national privacy laws want to change practices like this. The Information Transparency and Personal Data Control Act, introduced by Rep. Susan Delbini, is based on knowing which default settings in your social media apps would be most beneficial to you or your family?

For kids, Senators Ed Markey and Bill Cassidy reintroduced the Children and Teen Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA 2.0, which would expand existing privacy protections for users ages 13 to 15 year, by completely blocking advertisements intended for children.

The question the report raises is: What steps will we see in the future to stop these practices? “I would be shocked if this Congress could pass a comprehensive federal privacy law,” says Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, a progressive nonprofit dedicated to controlling social media giants. KidsAct directly targets these manipulative features."