Philosophers in Rags :: We dive deeper, and come up muddier.

Spinning off from an idea expressed in The Happiness Conspiracy, I wish to explore the ways in which the internet is designed to be hostile to the people who use it.   Catesby Holmes calls it a “hostile information architecture" in an article at theconversation DOT com called The internet is designed for corporations, not people.

Points of Interest:

• It is advertisers, not users, who are the real customers.
• In the present context, the idea that the internet is at least somewhat of a public space where one can meet friends, listen to music, go shopping, and get news is a complete myth.  Unless you make money by trafficking in user data, internet architecture is hostile from top to bottom.
• The internet in the U.S. isn’t actually, in any legal sense, a public space. The hardware is all owned by telecom companies

Definition of shill

Related --- Watching the Corporate State deploy its own shills:  Astroturfing: Government shills are flooding the web:

There is no difference between the left and the right when it comes to propaganda: regardless of their political stances, politicians will not let anything stand in their way when it comes to engineering narratives and disguising them as public opinion.

According to the Business Insider, 90% of media is controlled by six corporations.

Governments have long ago penetrated social media and discussion websites. What the general public is currently unaware of though, is that any time they are discussing something online, they could be talking to someone hired and paid by the government or a corporation.

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That's why I only trust people like Holden of India,  Raul of Paraguay, Silenus of New York State, Ibra of one of the districts in an area of the world called "The Middle East" - a place whose inhabitants have been subjected to centuries of turf wars disguised as religious strife.
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From Exposing Cyber Shills and Social Media’s Underworld:

The authors of the study stated that they “have found surprising evidence showing that not only do malicious crowd-sourcing systems exist, but they are rapidly growing in both user base and total revenue.”  These companies have access to thousands of human shills seated front of computers, doing what software can’t do: registering for services and product trials; signing up for social accounts; liking/following people and brands; and providing the screen captures, blog posts and commentary to demonstrate their affinity and actions.   And all for a price that makes it near impossible for unscrupulous marketers and brands to ignore. 

Pulling Back The Curtain On The Wizard

In an economy where social proof is becoming mandatory for media exposure and sales, cyber shills will be hired in greater numbers by brand and marketing firms, despite their public opposition to the practice. The profitable and rapid growth of the Chinese organizations highlighted in the report published by UCSB is proof that cyber shills are being used in greater numbers.   It may be naive of me, but I would hope that shining a light on social media’s underworld might start the process of combating the use of cyber shills.