Algorithm-Free Versions of the Web As a Solution to Data Privacy Might Make User Experience Worse

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The following post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga.

U.S. House lawmakers on Nov. 9 introduced the Filter Bubble Transparency Act, which would require internet platforms like Meta Platform Inc.’s FB Facebook, Twitter Inc. TWTR, and Microsoft MSFT owned LinkedIn to offer an algorithm-free version of their services.

This act aims to offer consumers an unmanipulated version of their newsfeeds — one based on factors like chronology instead of user-specific data. The attraction to this clean-cut version of social media arises from a mountain of evidence, anecdotal and otherwise, showing how algorithm-based social media channels have spurred negative consequences on an individual and national scale.

Several studies have linked social media with a host of threatening practices, including promoting extremist beliefs, spreading misinformation, and inspiring group violence. So it might not come as a surprise to see U.S. House lawmakers introduce acts to prevent this spread. But some argue that there are issues with the proposed solution.

Issues With the Filter Bubble Transparency Act?

First, for users to understand the true value of data privacy, alternative social media versions must offer a superior user experience. Under the current interpretation of the act, its lack of personalization will actually lower the standard of user experience. It’s not difficult to see why that is the case: Implement a lack of personalization on a platform like TikTok, for example, and you could magically make millions of users disappear.

Second, this solution might not eradicate the problem; instead, it provides an inferior alternative to the problem — one that “solves” privacy by compromising user experience. A review of the act, for example, shows that web pages may not be able to optimize content based on which device the consumer is using and that media websites might not be able to provide free articles to users.

Additionally, the act introduces age-appropriate content filters that are exempt from government censorship and are aimed at protecting children. To the dismay of many teenagers, this addition makes it sound like the world is subscribing to parental surveillance technology instead of a privacy-protection service. 

For these reasons, the algorithm-free internet could face difficulties creating a valuable online experience — an inauspicious characteristic of a technology meant to disrupt the status quo. Still, the emergence of Apple Inc. AAPL’s international Privacy-focused Private Relay Feature (PPRF) and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) indicates that the drive for a more private internet has taken a global scale. 

The demand is arguably there, but is algorithm-free internet the right tool to serve it? 

Bubblr Proposes an Alternative

Bubblr Inc. BBLR says its vision for a better system of the internet follows a two-ingredient recipe.

First, the systems behind the new internet need to be built with an inherent trust that’s clear to all stakeholders. This trustless system is one that does not invoke manipulation and is built for the progress of all. Second, the new Internet should provide a superior user experience to its current counterpart while maintaining improved privacy over data.

Since it was founded in 2015, Bubblr has been playing an active role in developing this new internet system. Bubblr’s Internet-Based Search Mechanism, for example, aims to pair businesses and consumers together in a new fashion. Through this technology, Bubblr states that businesses don’t need large budgets or complicated skill sets to find a customer base, and users don’t need to give away personal data to find goods, services, or information. Bubblr’s Open Source platform can bring a similarly dramatic shift across multiple industries by ensuring trust and transparency are achieved without compromising experience.

Bubblr says its recently-issued patent and planned open-source platform are potentially turnkey technologies that could unlock the development of alternative, implicitly trustless solutions. The company believes these technologies could also foster unrivaled creativity not just to avoid reducing the quality of experiences online but also to radically improve them.

The preceding post was written and/or published as a collaboration between Benzinga’s in-house sponsored content team and a financial partner of Benzinga. Although the piece is not and should not be construed as editorial content, the sponsored content team works to ensure that any and all information contained within is true and accurate to the best of their knowledge and research. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended to be investing advice.