Latest / Drawn of History / Sen. John Kennedy on How Powerful Big Tech Really Is(M4A_128K)

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Sen. John Kennedy on How Powerful Big Tech Really Is(M4A_128K) · Drawn of History

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I saw you talk about meta and how there's an
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: algorithm act that's out there about how that– and I've
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: talked about this before on this show. That's why this
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: really like– this really rung true with me. It was like, yeah,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: why isn't the– because the algorithm will lead you down
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  Speaker 1: a staircase of deviancy, anger, and can even lead people
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  Speaker 1: into conflict.
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  Speaker 2: It can lead you– it can take you.
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  Speaker 1: From feeling neutral, looking at something on your phone, to
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  Speaker 1: feeling angry and going out into public and acting on
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  Speaker 1: that anger or on that belief.
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  Speaker 3: Yep.
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  Speaker 2: And there's no repercussions from it. Yep.
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  Speaker 1: Like from Facebook or Meta or social media, Instagram, TikTok,
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  Speaker 1: there's no repercussions.
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  Speaker 3: When Facebook, I'll use Facebook as an example. When it
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: first started, we passed a law that said if somebody
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  Speaker 3: goes on Facebook and posts writes a post and they
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  Speaker 3: defame somebody. That's between the person who posted it and
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: the person they defamed that you can't hold Facebook liable
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  Speaker 3: for a post. Fair enough. But now Facebook has gotten
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  Speaker 3: so big that they control what you see and they
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  Speaker 3: gather this data about you and they want you to
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  Speaker 3: stay on Facebook a long time to look at the
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  Speaker 3: ads because they make a lot of money selling those ads.
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  Speaker 2: Right, so they got to keep you on there.
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  Speaker 3: And so they send you stuff. They find out what
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  Speaker 3: your hot buttons are through algorithms. And they keep showing
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  Speaker 3: it to you and showing it to you and showing
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  Speaker 3: it to you. And all of a sudden, and some
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  Speaker 3: people can can separate the wheat from the chaff and say, well,
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  Speaker 3: they're manipulating me. But other people, they just get angrier
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  Speaker 3: and angrier and angrier.
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  Speaker 2: And what do they expect? You're just going to get
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: so pissed off you're going to buy an air.
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  Speaker 3: Fryer or something? I mean, they make their money.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: That's their strategy.
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  Speaker 3: I don't mean that Facebook's not doing it.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: You're going to get so pissed off you're going to
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  Speaker 2: buy a dog collar.
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  Speaker 3: But Facebook has, if you ask me the one reason
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: for the demise of newspapers— It's social media because– I know.
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  Speaker 2: I miss the newspaper, don't you?
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  Speaker 3: Well, yeah. But the world's changed.
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  Speaker 2: And you can hit a kid with it.
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  Speaker 3: And they make their money off of advertising.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. The Algorithmic Accountability Act is proposed– and this has
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  Speaker 1: been proposed for a while, I think.
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  Speaker 3: This was proposed– Yeah, we've been debating it for a
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  Speaker 3: long time.
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  Speaker 1: Originally for like five years ago, I think this first
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  Speaker 1: came into light. The Algorithmic Accountability Act is a proposed U.S.
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  Speaker 1: bill aimed at requiring companies to examine and disclose– How
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  Speaker 1: automated systems and algorithms affect people, especially in high-stakes decisions
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  Speaker 1: like housing, credit, education, and employment. And this is perplexity
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  Speaker 1: here as our search engine. Supporters say the bill would
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  Speaker 1: give regulators and the public a clear way to see
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  Speaker 1: when algorithmic systems are causing harm.
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  Speaker 2: I agree.
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  Speaker 1: There should be something on the device that goes off
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  Speaker 1: and says now you're falling into an algorithm.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's– They manipulate.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, they manipulate it. Do you think something like this
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  Speaker 1: will come to light soon? We've got to be getting there.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you have algorithms leading people into extremely strong beliefs.
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  Speaker 2: Yep.
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  Speaker 1: Some people say that the shooter at the– was it
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the Charlie Kirk shooter was radicalized by things that he
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  Speaker 1: had seen on social media.
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  Speaker 3: I don't doubt it.
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  Speaker 2: Or that a lot of these shooters are.
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  Speaker 1: They do.
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  Speaker 3: Facebook just– I think it was Facebook just lost a
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  Speaker 3: big lawsuit.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Filed on behalf of a deceased minor that I think–
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  Speaker 3: I don't remember the details, but it was basically that
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  Speaker 3: the algorithms drove the young lady into suicide. And a
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  Speaker 3: jury rewarded them money.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Here we go.
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  Speaker 1: Campaigners welcome Meta and YouTube's defeat in landmark social media
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: addiction trial.
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  Speaker 3: That's it. Man, who you got pulling this stuff up?
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Some white guy. It's a DEI hire.
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: This guy, you need a pay raise, man. You're awesome.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you, Senator. Tell Theo at least he ought to
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: buy you a car.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Hey, dang, what?
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  Speaker 3: I'll be your agent, man. You can pull this stuff up.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: That's it. That's the case.
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  Speaker 2: That's the case.
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  Speaker 1: Jurors found that Meadow, which owns Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp,
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  Speaker 1: and Google, owner of YouTube, intentionally built addictive social media
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  Speaker 1: platforms that harm the 20-year-old's mental health. The woman known
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  Speaker 1: as Kaylee was awarded $ 6 million in damages, a result
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  Speaker 1: likely to have implications for hundreds of similar cases now
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  Speaker 1: winding their way through U.S.
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  Speaker 2: Courts. Amen. Praise God. Good for her. What happened?
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  Speaker 1: Do they have the exact thing that happened? The young
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  Speaker 1: lady didn't pass away. It says right here, Kaylee started
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  Speaker 1: using YouTube at about six years old and Instagram at
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  Speaker 1: about nine with no effective age-based blocking from the platforms.
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  Speaker 1: By age 10, she was experiencing anxiety and depression, conditions
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: that were formally diagnosed later by a therapist. She became
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  Speaker 1: intensely preoccupied with her appearance, using Instagram filters that altered
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  Speaker 1: her face, smaller nose, larger eyes, and has since been
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  Speaker 1: diagnosed with body dysmorphia, a disorder involving obsessive worry about
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  Speaker 1: perceived flaws in appearance. Her lawyers argued that Instagram's design features,
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  Speaker 1: such as infinite scroll and growth strategies focused on the
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  Speaker 1: young users, contributed to an addictive pattern of use that
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  Speaker 1: harmed her mental health. Huh. The jury awarded Kaylee three
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  Speaker 1: main incommensatory damages and three main impunitive damages.
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  Speaker 2: Huh. Okay.
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  Speaker 3: I know this stuff's addictive.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, it is. Well, I noticed myself.
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  Speaker 1: You start getting into beliefs, it starts leading you down
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  Speaker 1: certain holes of certain beliefs, and then you got on
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  Speaker 1: your phone just to check a text, and next thing
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  Speaker 1: you know, you get off with a belief.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's all our kids know. Our kids... So many
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  Speaker 3: of our kids have become smartphone zombies. You know, they just,
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  Speaker 3: it's always this. And look, they're... What.
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  Speaker 2: Did we do, though, John? Do you remember what we did?
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  Speaker 3: I didn't have social media.
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  Speaker 1: But I know, because nowadays, if you imagine, it's kind
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  Speaker 1: of crazy to imagine.
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  Speaker 3: I know.
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  Speaker 1: If you imagine some guy just sitting around like this,
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  Speaker 1: not doing, but imagine somebody just waiting for something somewhere.
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  Speaker 1: Were they just sitting with their hands in their laps?
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  Speaker 3: I played ball. In my spare time, I played ball.
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  Speaker 3: I did my homework. We'd go to movies. I'd read
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  Speaker 3: a lot.
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  Speaker 1: But outside of some of that, say you just were
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  Speaker 1: sitting somewhere. I guess you would just sit there and
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  Speaker 1: think or just– because now– Oh, they had magazines.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true. We had magazines.
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  Speaker 3: Or you actually, believe it or not, talked to people.
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  Speaker 2: Even if you didn't like me to talk to them then.
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  Speaker 3: You just talked to people. Remember that? Yep.
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  Speaker 2: Even if you didn't even like them.
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  Speaker 1: Yep.
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  Speaker 3: Now when you're around a lot of young people, they
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  Speaker 3: really are smartphone zombies. They're just like this all the time.
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  Speaker 2: People are hooked.
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  Speaker 3: And it has impact. I'm not saying all social media
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  Speaker 3: is bad. It has many good purposes. But it has
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  Speaker 3: been abused.
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  Speaker 1: It's abused and it's an addiction crisis. It is very addictive.
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  Speaker 1: And they've been able to make it more and more
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  Speaker 1: addictive and they know it. Is there lobbyists for this
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  Speaker 1: type of thing in the government too that are lobbying
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  Speaker 1: for these social media platforms?
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely. These guys are. These guys are strong as a horseradish.
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  Speaker 1: Why don't more lobbyists get called out by politicians?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I don't meet with many lobbyists, but in some states,
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  Speaker 3: they have an influence. I'm not going to kill you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure they're the ones keeping this act, like the
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  Speaker 1: Algorithm Act or whatever.
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  Speaker 3: Of course they are.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure they're the ones keeping those things at bay.
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  Speaker 3: That's not the only ones, but of course they are.
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  Speaker 3: And I don't want to just pick on Facebook, but
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  Speaker 3: organizations like Google, Facebook— They employ thousands of people. They
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  Speaker 3: have huge PACs. If you're from their state and you're
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: a senator and Google comes to you and says, I
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  Speaker 3: employ 10,000 people, and if you pass this bill, I'm
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  Speaker 3: going to have to lay off half of them. Plus,
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  Speaker 3: they do have very powerful lobbyists. And– They're just very powerful.
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  Speaker 1: So that's an instance where an elected official has to
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  Speaker 1: make a choice there. That's a good example of an instance, right?
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  Speaker 1: And that's something real that could happen. It's like, hey,
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  Speaker 1: we have 10,000. We employ 10,000 people in your state.
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  Speaker 1: If you pass this, then 5,000 of them are going
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  Speaker 1: to lose jobs.
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  Speaker 3: And they know how to use their power. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: if you ask me who's more powerful, the state of
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  Speaker 3: Tennessee or Google, I'd say Google. And the state of
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  Speaker 3: Tennessee is powerful. A lot of people, wonderful universities, beautiful
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  Speaker 3: natural resources. But the four or five or six social
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: media companies are very powerful. And that's why we have
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  Speaker 3: to be very careful. I support it, but we have
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  Speaker 3: to be very careful with artificial intelligence and AI.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the Pope just came and spoke out against it.
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  Speaker 1: And that's kind of scary to think.
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  Speaker 3: And AI is– this was developed in America. It's just
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  Speaker 3: another example of American brilliance and ingenuity and innovation. But
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  Speaker 3: it's so powerful. It can make our lives better if
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't kill us all first. But if you develop–
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  Speaker 3: a machine that can know everything and then can start
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  Speaker 3: thinking for itself and through its agents can take actions.
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  Speaker 3: could shut down your entire infrastructure.
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  Speaker 2: But that's where I lose. That's where I start to lose.
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  Speaker 2: I get.
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  Speaker 1: But like what actions like so do you like like
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  Speaker 1: my laptop's not going to like come in and like,
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  Speaker 1: you know. attack me while I'm sleeping. You know what
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  Speaker 1: I'm saying? So it's not like that, right? So what actions,
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  Speaker 1: because I hear people say these, this, this thing, right?
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  Speaker 1: What you're saying, what actions are we talking about?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you can, I mean, I'm no expert, but you,
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  Speaker 3: you can create, uh, agents now that use AI. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: We just had Jeff Bridges just had, he has a
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  Speaker 1: friend on chat GPT or whatever.
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  Speaker 2: And he talks to him all the time named Gary.
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  Speaker 3: You can, what the heck?