what the left can do differently online
how social media literacy can let leftist activists appropriate technology for good in the digital age
I think the left everywhere needs some hope right now. I had been planning on publishing this no matter who won - but given the outcome, I think it is needed sooner rather than later. So - here is my contribution. PS. Thank you for 200 subscribers! I wrote this earlier this morning but was having some technical trouble with the notion embeds later in the page - I hope it helps at least one person.
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For the entire US Election cycle, I have been surrounded by the discourse of who was or was not voting for Kamala based on her position on Palestine. This discourse hasn’t felt particularly productive, and I haven’t waded into it because I don’t think I have anything new to add. But, the overwhelming sense is that the online left is somewhat lacking in strategy and direction. This isn’t through anybody's fault - what we, on the left, are experiencing is the same algorithmic overwhelm that everyone else is feeling. Today I would like to propose a solution to this overwhelm - understanding.
For a long time, I have contemplated the link between my work in social media literacy and how the left can make their voice heard online.
When COVID first hit, and we were all stuck at home, everyone suddenly realised JKR was raging TERF. The problem with this is that Scottish trans activists had been yelling about JKR for years - she had made a significant donation to some horrible organisation or other, who were then able to get their voice heard in a way we were unable to, leading to the Scottish Government thinking that a lot more people cared about this than did. They were a vocal minority - and her money enabled that voice. I remember telling my friend then, “It’s frustrating because we’ve been yelling about her for years, but it's like Twitter decides when something is important, and we have no control over it.”
This is how a lot of leftist activists feel, a lot of the time - like we are at the behest of some uncontrollable algorithm and that we can’t control when an issue gets picked up.
Traditional Social Media Strategies Dont Work for the Left
Traditional social media strategies can feel, to put it lightly, “icky” to a leftist. The constant pressure to craft, strategise, manipulate, and scandalize often leaves us with a bad taste in our mouths. In politics, this can often look like an exhausted media strategist trying to convince some prominent politician or other to just bloody listen to them.
This is the common narrative we see about the fall of Corbyn’s Labour - but I don’t believe it’s a correct diagnosis of the problem. When you read “This Land “ by Owen Jones, which characterises the main issues with Corbyn’s Labour, you see this same distaste. Jones continually describes the exasperation he and many others around him felt with Corbyn’s apparent refusal to participate in anything resembling strategy. Reading Jones’ account, it is easy to believe Corbyn was selfish and wasn’t up to leading the UK Left.
I don’t think this is what was happening. Corbyn is not being “distracted” or “lazy”—he does not believe traditional media strategies are adequate for the left and does not see an alternative in a digital age. Given his leftist principles, this makes complete sense. But what if there is an alternative that allows the left to use social media in a way that aligns with our principles?
Part of the reason we on the left find it so difficult to see an alternative is the prominent cultural belief that digital media is somehow “different” from media that has come before—so we cannot use the same strategies we have used in the past. This is called “Digital Exceptionalism,” and it is a pile of nonsense. The internet and social media are the latest in a long line of technology used by and for the ruling class.
The left has a long history of appropriating technology to spread its message. This has had varying levels of success, which I will argue is based on how well we can understand the sociological and technical mechanisms that go into whichever technology we are appropriating. By looking into how leftists have responded to technological advancements in the past, we can craft an approach to leftism in the digital age that is not based in
The Broadcast Reform Movement
The Broadcast Reform Movement initially made progress by establishing and repurposing radio stations for public benefit. Despite early successes, their efforts were ultimately overshadowed by more influential organisations backed by government support, leading to a shift in the broadcasting landscape.
About a third of early broadcasters were non-profit (churches, universities, etc). But by 1934, non-profit broadcasting accounted for only 2% of US broadcast time, leading non-profit broadcasters to become increasingly displaced & harassed and begin to form the beginnings of a broadcast reform movement. The leading group for this was the National Committee on Education by Radio, led by the National Education Association Joy Elmer Morgan.
“Private monopoly in industry is bad enough; monopoly in the agencies which control the distribution of ideas is even worse” — Joy Elmer Morgan, in a letter to Congress
The reform movement began attracting different types of people, including the ACLU, who were interested in free speech, censorship, and the prevalence of cheap entertainment in public affairs programs. The general themes of the broadcast reform movement followed four points:
Airwaves are a shared resource, so broadcasting is a public utility.
The broadcasting system would inevitably censor radical opinions to appeal to advertisers and keep the status quo.
The nature of commercial broadcasting seriously limits cultural and educational programming.
Calling to create a public system of stations in conjunction with commercial stations.
The weakness of the broadcast reform movement lay in its inability to find a source of funding for non-profit stations outside of taxes, as this was unpopular with the American public at the time. This meant that broadcasters were able to overwhelm their efforts.
Vague regulations in the ‘Radio Act (1927)’ established the Federal Radio Commission temporarily to favour stations which ‘best served the public interest, convenience, or necessity). For the two years following this, the network-dominated radio as we know it today came into existence. The FRC was primarily staffed with people who were aligned with commercial radio, and this, along with other factors, made it increasingly difficult for non-profit stations found it increasingly challenging to remain on-air.
Nonetheless - the Broadcast Reform Movement remains, in my view, the most successful example of appropriating technological advancements for the public good. And I think it can teach the current left a thing or two.
Currently, the left feels swamped by algorithms and Big Tech. It is easy to feel swamped by something you don’t understand, and it’s difficult to dismantle it.
Traditional social media strategies tend to be very reactive, throwing content out depending on the latest online trends without much planning. This often leaves us feeling out of control. When campaigning for social and economic justice, you feel as if the change you are trying to implement is at the behest of opaque algorithms.
How are we, as leftists, meant to use social media to advance our cause if we don’t understand how it works?
Essentially, if you are using social media to advance your leftist cause, you need to be able to understand three things:
The capitalist mechanisms that go into social media’s structure and social impacts
Why and how something does or does not perform well in the algorithm
Why and how people do or do not carry what they see online into actual change in their lives
What does this mean in practice? Like any good Virgo, I have created some Notion templates to demonstrate what I mean.
A Leftists Guide to Staying off Your Phone
As a starting point for understanding a leftist perspective on social media and technology in general, I've created a short course. It delves deeper into how to understand your relationship with tech from a leftist viewpoint, offering reflective questions and resources for further exploration. This isn’t exhaustive and is more suited to an individual rather than an organisation. As an add-on for activists, I would recommend three additional books that provide more of a perspective on social media:
Reverse Engineering Social Media: Software, Culture, and Political Economy in New Media Capitalism
Recognition in the Age of Social Media a book by Bruno Campanella.
If you don’t have time to read all of these, I recommend reading the first two chapters of Reverse Engineering Social Media, the introduction to the second book, and the chapter in Eye of the Master on how algorithms are replicating neoliberal market ideology. The very, very, very short version: if you understand the limits of the free market, you know social media algorithms. They function the exact same way, which means they also encourage us all to be good little neoliberals.
Content Plan for Social Impact
The difference here is the nature of the planning and evaluating sections - you are encouraged to explain and reflect on the mechanisms by which the capitalist class, enabled by Big Tech, have or could prevent you from getting your message out there or making a real impact. This could mean all sorts of different things, from Recognition Theory to persuasive design - which is why you should do my short Notion course above and read the books I have recommended first.
Alternatively, you can email me, and I’ll help out as much as my (very busy) schedule allows - irrational.technology@gmail.com :)
Thank you for writing this. I love especially the three points about using social media to advance your cause (not that I'm manipulating the algorithms, but it's smart for advancing a cause).
soooo interested in this!! whats the chapter called in Eye of the Master?