AOC Gives Up On Facebook
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has only been in the in position as the representative for New York’s 14th congressional district a matter of months but already she is already shaking up the political establishment. Aside from being the youngest woman ever elected to congress and an avowed socialist, Ocasio-Cortez (AOC to her fans) has now set her sights on the giants of Silicon Valley, specifically Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg.
In an act of defiance practically unheard of in modern politics, the 29 year-old has quit the platform and vowed to scale back her use of other social media sites.
In an interview for the podcast Skullduggerry, she cited health concerns as her reasons for leaving.
“I actually think that social media poses a public health crisis to everybody.” She said. 'There are amplified impacts for young people but I think it has a lot of effects on older people. Increased isolation, depression, anxiety, depression, escapism.’
Whilst in and of itself this may not seem like such a big issue, AOC’s decision is one of a number of attacks she has made against tech giants since she took office.In fact one of her first acts as a congresswoman was to co-sign a letter sent to Microsoft, Google and Facebook executives attacking them for sponsoring a conference featuring noted climate change denier Caleb Rossiter of the CO2 coalition.
The letter
Although the letter did not explicitly name and shame the companies involved, is intended target was pretty clear.
“As you are well aware” it reads “the spreading of misinformation can be dangerous to our society. Today’s coordinated campaign to deny climate change, ot to put a positive spin on its effects, is not unlike that of the tobacco companies that once sought to discredit their product’s link to cancer.”
Whilst Microsoft and Google were quick to provide press releases directly addressing the issues raised, Facebook was noticeably silent, only offering a statement directing readers to its sponsorship policies and commitment to fighting climate change.
Since that January missive, AOC has ramped up her attack on the increasingly dangerous role Silicon Valley is playing in global society, in particular Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, which also owns Instagram and WhastApp. She has been a frequent critic the power which Facebook has through its use of targeted ads to influence consumer choice and the democratic process.
In one statement made on Twitter, where she has 3.9m followers, she said “Just because a monopoly business happens to be online, that doesn’t mean it’s good. Facebook may have its own problems but its increasingly starting to look like our society (namely, our democracy) has a Facebook problem.”
The arrival of this vitriolic newcomer could not have happened at a worse time for Zuckerberg. Last year, Facebook was dragged in front of Congress for an eight hour grilling about how it protects users security and stops targeted political campaigning. It is widely considered his COO Sheryl Sandberg deflected answers more questions than she answered.
Allied to this AOC being one of the main reasons Amazon failed in its bid to open a power base adjacent to her congressional district in New York and the giant tech conglomerates have a fresh headache to contend with.
The US Constitution prohibits anyone under the age of 35 from running for president so AOC but many on both sides of the house see the potential in her as a future president. How she goes about continuing her fight against Silicon Valley hegemony might have a significant bearing on how much influence they continue to have across the market spectrum.
By Jackson Mardon-Heath
You Might Also Read:
Websites To Be Fined Over 'online harms' Under New UK Law:
