Most people assume that the bad decisions leading to Facebook’s social catastrophes are being made by the company’s senior management, or some committee. Not true. The vast majority of such decisions are made automatically by artificial intelligent computers and algorithms that operate according to a set of rules. This is the basis of Facebook’s efficient business model that allows it to offer a low-cost alternative to its clients.

That’s not an excuse. For there is that old adage which seems to apply here too; “You get what you pay for.” AI systems are inherently vulnerable to antagonists who figure out their operating rules and how to game them. They’re also limited to a one-size-fits-all approach to a solution for every set of circumstances they encounter.

Ultimately, there’s a fundamental question that every user and client of social media needs to answer for themselves:

Is all this efficiency and positive outcomes that social media claims worth the price of a social hierarchy where 99.9% of the people are subordinate to artificial intelligence, which is developed and controlled by a privileged 0.1% of the people?