Politics

/

ArcaMax

Commentary: Dominant technology is harming women, and alternatives are starved for resources

Jens Ludwig, Chicago Tribune on

Published in Op Eds

There is an implicit war underway within the tech world between good and, if not quite “evil,” then at least “not good.” Good is not winning because it’s massively outgunned.

Nowhere is this easier to see than in the exploitation and harming of women.

Big Tech is making a fortune in ways that are not obviously in the best interests of the women in our lives.

For example, algorithms such as Instagram’s steer women toward posts with unrealistic content, which the companies know fuel deeply unhelpful social comparisons. As New York University professor Jonathan Haidt and others have noted, this leads teen girls in particular to become depressed, anxious and prone to eating disorders, self-harm and even suicide. One study found that unplugging people from social media greatly improved their well-being and happiness.

Men are also affected in ways that are unlikely to be helpful to women. For example, TikTok and other algorithms steer young men to misogynistic content in the “manosphere.” Raise your hand if you’re happy to learn that one of every five fraternity members say they watch pornography that involves rape.

Some might wonder why there isn’t more government regulation. Why don’t the tech companies bear more responsibility for the content that goes out over their platforms? Why don’t we have something like an “FDA for algorithms” that evaluates any new technology’s impacts on society before it gets deployed to millions (or billions) of users? One answer comes from the political clout of Big Tech — the “Big Four” tech companies alone spent $64 million on lobbying in 2023.

We’re largely left with nonprofit attempts to build “good” tech that tries to prevent or remediate the harms of our current tech Wild West. But those efforts are being starved for resources.

Consider, for example, Callisto. One reason so few women who experience sexual assault report it is because so many women fear they themselves are partly to blame. Callisto lets women disclose their assault anonymously into an encrypted digital archive. If another survivor later discloses the same offender, Callisto helps the survivors connect if they so choose. Seeing that one’s assailant did the same thing to someone else helps women see it’s not them, it’s him — no small thing for someone trying to deal with such a traumatic event.

Callisto also has the potential to hold more offenders accountable. Many cases come down to “he said, she said.” The presumption of innocence means the system is in effect designed to help men win and women lose. New federal Title IX rules now make it easier for colleges to use “pattern as evidence,” so connecting survivors, as Callisto does, makes it harder for offenders to lie their way out of being held accountable.

 

Note the fact that Callisto as a technological solution is an important part of what might make it effective. Only technology can ensure the sort of anonymity that makes it easier for some deeply traumatized women to be willing to share their stories and to be sure their reports really are kept confidential unless or until someone else reports against their same offender.

Recently, for want of $1 million per year, Callisto announced it was likely going to have to shut down. This is part of a larger pattern that has also affected other tech organizations trying to combat gender-based violence such as Safe & the City’s app Garbo and She’s a Crowd. Meanwhile, last year, just three companies — Apple, Alphabet and Microsoft — made around $230 billion in profits.

What’s the result of this imbalance? Big social problems have lots and lots of causes. But there’s a plausible case to be made that the current dominance of unhelpful technologies over helpful ones contributes to America’s epidemic of sexual violence: half a million rapes and sexual assaults every year and 1 in 3 college women raped or sexually assaulted by graduation.

While we wait for government regulation to eventually catch up, we should in the meantime be investing in technologies that try to promote social good. Who’s happy about an organization such as Callisto hurtling toward closing its doors for the equivalent of a half-hour’s worth of Meta’s profits?

This isn’t the world you’d want if you are a woman or someone who cares about the well-being of women.

____

Jens Ludwig is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman distinguished service professor at the University of Chicago and the Pritzker director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a member of the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Academy of Sciences. He can be reached at jludwig@uchicago.edu.

___


©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

ACLU

ACLU

By The ACLU
Amy Goodman

Amy Goodman

By Amy Goodman
Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Bill Press

Bill Press

By Bill Press
Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

Bonnie Jean Feldkamp

By Bonnie Jean Feldkamp
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
Clarence Page

Clarence Page

By Clarence Page
Danny Tyree

Danny Tyree

By Danny Tyree
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Debra Saunders

Debra Saunders

By Debra Saunders
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Dick Polman

Dick Polman

By Dick Polman
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
Froma Harrop

Froma Harrop

By Froma Harrop
Jacob Sullum

Jacob Sullum

By Jacob Sullum
Jamie Stiehm

Jamie Stiehm

By Jamie Stiehm
Jeff Robbins

Jeff Robbins

By Jeff Robbins
Jessica Johnson

Jessica Johnson

By Jessica Johnson
Jim Hightower

Jim Hightower

By Jim Hightower
Joe Conason

Joe Conason

By Joe Conason
Joe Guzzardi

Joe Guzzardi

By Joe Guzzardi
John Micek

John Micek

By John Micek
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Marc Munroe Dion

Marc Munroe Dion

By Marc Munroe Dion
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan

By Michael Reagan
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

By Oliver North and David L. Goetsch
R. Emmett Tyrrell

R. Emmett Tyrrell

By R. Emmett Tyrrell
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Robert B. Reich

Robert B. Reich

By Robert B. Reich
Ruben Navarrett Jr

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
Ruth Marcus

Ruth Marcus

By Ruth Marcus
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Susan Estrich

Susan Estrich

By Susan Estrich
Ted Rall

Ted Rall

By Ted Rall
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Tom Purcell

Tom Purcell

By Tom Purcell
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

A.F. Branco Bill Bramhall Dave Granlund Jack Ohman Christopher Weyant Monte Wolverton