* Jacques Arsac, a French computer scientist stated in 1969 :
‘I think it would not be unreasonable to imagine a small company making a living using a computer in which it records information. Information that it then exploits for its own profit! ‘Unfortunately, 50 years later, it has become the commercial property of some companies (Dark UX)!
Complaints made by French people regarding the protection of their personal data are not wavering, and similar objections are occurring on a global scale. In a report, * the CNIL notes that the majority of these complaints concerns diffusion and the impossibility to permanently delete personal data on the web (33%), as well as the spread of advertising and e-mail canvassing ( 33%). You should know that almost 200 million Facebook users worldwide use ad-blockers! Following the ‘Cambridge Analytica’ scandal, the IFOP published a study (13/04/2018) that found: 25% of French people are considering leaving Facebook, 9% of Americans have already done so, 17% have removed the app from their smartphones, and 35% have decreased their posting frequency. Two thirds of the French do not trust Facebook anymore, while other social networks are not fairing any better. A third of the population admits to contemplating closing their Twitter accounts, alongside 22% for closing Snapchat, and 19% for closing Instagram. This distrust towards social networks is mainly due to the fear of private data being misused (65%). Currently, 65% of users have given up installing an application to protect their personal data and 48% have given up posting a message on a social network to protect their privacy (Study LINC CNIL 2021).
This business model is based on advertising revenue, and therefore on the use of personal data. The tech industry is profiting off them for free! This collection becomes more and more intrusive thanks to opaque algorithms in software, for impose a dictatorship of targeteds, personalizeds contents. Your activity is tracked, measured and analyzed. The purpose of these Orwellian networks and their algorithms is: engagement (keeping you as long as possible), growth (encouraging you to bring in as many connections as possible), and advertising (generating maximum financial revenue). Promoting maximum addiction, they establish your personality profil and employ techniques of mental manipulation.
“The problem is not in sharing personal data, but seeing it USED, SOLD, and STORED” A.S
Every year in France, between 700,000 and 1 million young people are victims of harassment. Harassment is most often mentioned in the context of a suicide (Study Association Between 2020). The recent explosion in violent and hateful content being uploaded and shared on social media has resulted in several tragedies, many of which involve children such as: the assassination of Professor Samuel Paty, the teenager Marjorie (17 years old), the Sian Waterhouse suicide (16 years old, England), Elyse (16 years old, France), Maeva Frossard (32 years old, France), Lindsay Gervois (13 years old, France), Nicolas (15 years old, France), Marie (15 years old, France), Charlize (15 years old, France), woefully among many others … Seven families, united within the collective Algos Victima, accuse the social network TikTok of exposing children to dangerous content, according to information from FranceInfo. At issue are videos promoting suicide, self-harm, and eating disorders (11/04/24). 60% of 18-25 year-olds have already been victims of cyberbullying, and half of French people are afraid of it for their loved ones and are worried about becoming victims (Study IPSOS 2021, Caisse d’épargne et l’association E-enfance 2022). 84% of cyberbullying victims are women ‘and’ a women is 27 times more likely than a man to experience online violence, and 74% of cyberbullies are men. (Study IPSOS for Féministe 2024).
“Anonymity, account pseudonyms (they encourage cyberbullying and child sexual abuse), systematic lack of judicial transparency, are A MAJOR PROBLEM TO ERADICATE” A.S
Not respecting the legal age of 15, these Orwellian networks encourage children to excessively use screens, leading to dependency and potential brain-related consequences. (Report 2024: ‘children facing screens’ from the commission of experts appointed by Mr. Macron in 2024).
“We must promote minimal usage to avoid dependency and excessive screen exposure, especially for our children” A.S