A few days back I wrote an article that built an interesting discussion about handouts, which wasn't actually the point of the post, but all open discussion is worth it - Especially with 
Because the economy is such a mess in so many ways, it is likely necessary to have these handouts for people to make ends meet, yet if a person or group are not actively building their financial position to take care of themselves, they will always be taken advantage of, one way or another.
On another article on trading mindset, a comment came in from 
Even I'm frustrated with the WEB2 space and their antics, I was temporarily banned for 24 hours on the Messenger App. They said I went against some kind of a community standard, but they wouldn't even tell or show me exactly what I did wrong. F*cking Pathetic! I don't care much about the other social media apps, but Messenger is needed for work and family conversations.
Ok.. I just quoted it.
F*cking Pathetic!
It was the last line that stood out to me, because it illustrates the reliance from handouts. It is not that
Once people are reliant on the platform and have monetized themselves by building a business or some such, they become reliant. So, whatever the platform does or demands, they have to accept, because they have already built up their business and non-compliance can take a very heavy toll on the business, if having to move. Essentially, it becomes a situation where it is comply, or be demonetized.
Demonetization on a social platform is when an account with a business model attached to it is no longer able to earn through that platform. For example on YouTube, common demonetization would be the inability to show adverts, stripping the possibility of ad revenue earnings. Past that, there can be a number of other mechanisms, like throttling impressions or shadow banning, where an account's content is limited in the feeds, or possibly, outright banning, where the account is frozen or deleted.
This is control through reliance.
The convenience of "free" and "popular" comes at a cost. Some people think the cost is the sale of our privacy, which is one of the costs. Some think it is the leveraging of our network to increase ad revenue and product sales, which is another cost. But the biggest cost, is that we are giving up our freedom and becoming reliant on a corporate structure for our income - yet we are not employees and have zero rights.
Not only that, there is no way to actually take ownership, as while we might own our face and trademarks, without distribution, they are valueless. It is incredibly difficult to leave a platform that provides your income, and start up somewhere else. No matter how many fan you have, most are not going to follow, because like you, they like free and convenient also.
The other thing that people are wary of, is the growth of the "tech stack" they should use. Look at the explosion in streaming services and then the fragmenting of them around brands like Disney, HBO, Apple and Universal etc - each one has to build a platform, but what each offers is incomplete. While some consumers will order multiple services, during economic downturn period especially, people will consolidate. As a result, most of the services will falter, because they have very high overheads, have paid a high price for their market share, and now it is jumping ship.
Because the majority of people are looking for convenience, if one of their favorite streamers gets deplatformed and moves elsewhere, they aren't likely to follow, especially if they are going to have to pay for another service. People have become so accustomed to the free to use model, they have forgotten that people need to get paid along the content supply chain. It is much easier (in their head) when it is all handled by the platform, because they don't have to pay the cost of being beholden to the platform.
It is those who have built their business atop the platforms, the ones who under normal circumstances should have ownership and some level of control of their business, that are actually the most trapped by them. Once established, there is little option but to pay the price, or be left jobless.
Is it a job?
Yes, you have to pay taxes on the income earned, even though it comes with no labor protection and you are forced to fit your business model into the changing demands of an ad revenue model platform. Funny, eh?
Doesn't sound like it meets employment standards.
Being reliant on these platforms for earnings is a massive threat to freedom, as it comes with the "while under my roof" rules, with the constant threat of being kicked out onto the curb, with nothing but your personality on your back. So, once people are established, they jump through the hoops in order to stay that way, other wise they risk having what they have built torn down at the flick of checkbox, and they will be forced to go out into the big, bad world to get a "real" job.
These platforms are not benevolent or even passive observers, they are profit-seeking dictators. They hand out their platform to engage content creators and consumers, and then use that access to the network and control granted by the economics, to keep them both hooked, to keep them coming back. The more integrated they can become in our lives, the better, because it not only drives their bottom line profits, but makes them harder to expel from our lives - because of we do,
we fear we will miss out.
After all, that is where all our friends are.
In digital prison.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]
