Open Letter on Facebook : Define grooming, criminalise it, impede predatory media content dissemination.

open letter : long version

To the Editor

Frances Haugen's testimony and evidence concerning Facebook and Instagram speaks volumes.
Media communications that target people’s cognitive biases, their insecurities, prejudices and worries, their misunderstandings, cultural conditioning and their fears, studying those conditions, aiming attenuated content that exacerbates those conditions at the targets,

And doing this with intent, in order to drive behavioural change - more on-line time extracted from users,  to encouraging addictive behaviour, whilst allowing malign actors access to vulnerable people, inciting hatred, nudging target groups into voting or not voting based on emotional and irrational drivers, increasing sales: all of this is economically or politically exploitative.  This activity is psychological abuse. This activity is grooming. 
If we had legislation identifying it, defining it and criminalising it, as psychologically abusive intentional action, then the media providers would be unable to allow such behaviour to be disseminated on their platforms as a revenue stream.  Their AI algorithms would have to be written accordingly. 
This would not be an inhibition of free speech. This would be protecting vulnerable people from predatory actors.  
The asymmetry of power  between the State, the Corporation and the individual human being is immense. Legislation is required to prevent bad actors exploiting that power disparity. This is a question of Health and Safety.
Free Speech is, on the citizens side, the responsibility to speak truthfully, publicly and it is also an admonishment to State and other institutional actors to never use their power to harass honest critics, witnesses, whistle-blowers and truth tellers - the State and other powerful institutions must listen to the honest citizen and hear the honest truth.
Frances Haugen is demonstrating the best practice of Free Speech. The Bi-Partisan response is demonstrating the best practice of the State as an ear for the truth. 
Make grooming a criminal offence.

Yours Sincerely

Corneilius Crowley,
London


open letter short versionTo the Editor
Frances Haugen's testimony and evidence concerning Facebook and Instagram speaks volumes.Media content that targets people’s cognitive biases, in order to drive behavioural change such as encouraging addictive behaviour, inciting hatred, nudging target groups into voting or not voting based on emotional or irrational drivers, increasing sales: all of this is economically or politically exploitative. This activity is psychological abuse. This activity is grooming. 
We need legislation that makes grooming a criminal offence.
This would not be an inhibition of free speech. This would be protecting vulnerable people from predatory actors.
Frances Haugen is demonstrating the best practice of Free Speech. The Bi-Partisan response of Congress is demonstrating the best practice of the State as an ear for the truth. 
Make grooming a criminal offence.
Yours sincerely,
Corneilius Crowley
London

To be fair and honest, Grooming was already a standard behavioural characteristic of our current system. Grooming is a core element in every hierarchy of wealth, power and violence culture. The online media environment has made it possible to direct grooming content to individuals on their own, exploiting their vulnerabilities, exacerbating fears to drive behavioural modification, which can be exploited politically or economically, whereas prior to the online media environment, propaganda was aimed at larger aggregate groups, and was to some degree more obvious and more cautious.

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