An open letter to tech companies
6/6/2023 - Levi Neuwirth - for immediate publication
It goes without saying that we are living in an era of greed. Tech companies help propagate the current state of the job market (bad) and the current quality of life for the executives (high) at the price of their users. Let's take a few examples:
Perhaps tech companies should think more about the loyal communities that keep them alive rather than chasing infinite growth (impossible) and shareholder greed (they don't really make any money anyway, for the most part).
Companies can't exist without users. It's clear that the users will make their voices heard - all you need to prove that is a look at the numbers. Maybe take a look at Twitter and Snapchat, two popular social media platforms in turmoil currently - Snapchat due to the introduction of an unsafe, invasive (even by their standards, since their entire app is massively invasive) AI model spying on the users, and Twitter due to API and platform changes similar to Reddit's recent horrible choices.
Executives at these companies need to be down to Earth and have an understanding of the reason that their platform has an appeal in the first place, rather than jumping in when the platform is well-established and abusing that notability.
Would anyone choose to upload videos to a new service today that doesn't allow for feedback, constantly advertises (with many containing malware), and doesn't support creators (but constantly demonetizes videos without reason)? I don't think so. The only reason YouTube can do what it does is because they have a notabilty monopoly. The same goes for other tech giants.
Change is necessary.
The future lies in open-source software. Open AI models (no, not OpenAI, I mean AI models that are actually open!) are on pace to destroy those of the tech giants that invaded the privacy of users to train. Many people are flocking to providers like Signal and Proton, fleeing the abusive practices of corrupt companies like Google. And if other companies choose to abuse their power and disregard their very own communities, they will fail without exception.
To the tech companies - I urge you to listen to your users and be transparent, honest, and thoughtful. That's a lot to ask in the present day, and it's sad that this is the case. Know that your day will come if you do not heed this advice.