Externalised Power on Facebook
Externalised Power on Facebook
Author(s): Ekaterina NetchitailovaSubject(s): Media studies, Studies in violence and power, Social Informatics, ICT Information and Communications Technologies
Published by: University of Lincoln and World Experience Campus Foundation
Keywords: Facebook; power; capitalism; externalised power; Panopticon; data-mining; privacy;
Summary/Abstract: Following the recent scandal involving Facebook and Cambridge Analytica it’s time to look again at what sort of power users on Facebook and other online social networks really have. They have the possibility to join the site for free, create content and exchange pictures with relatives and friends. However, while Facebook changed its privacy policy following the scandal, it remains long and ambitious and clearly states that it still collects data of its users. Sites such as Facebook operate within soft-capitalism where in exchange of free service we provide content and information about ourselves. When we join something for free, it creates an illusion of power on the part of the users, while ultimately, it takes the real power away from them and gives it to corporations. I propose to call power that we can find on online social networks externalised power.
Journal: Journal of Media Critiques
- Issue Year: 4/2018
- Issue No: 13
- Page Range: 103-122
- Page Count: 20
- Language: English
