Tech Giants: Arbiters Of Truth

The US president accused the tech giant of "stifling the truth."

According to Twitter spokesperson Katie Rosborough, the tweets were labelled because they contain “potentially misleading information about voting processes.” 

Even Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey explained that labeling two of President Donald Trump's tweets with fact checks does not make the social media company an "arbiter of truth." Dorsey assumed accountability for Twitter’s actions and said, "There is someone ultimately accountable for our actions as a company, and that's me.” 

Mark Zuckerberg said that "I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn't be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online."

On this issue, I would take the side of Twitter providing it's users guidance to know the facts and make informed choices or opinions. Fact-checking should be in the DNA of tech giants whose platforms have a global reach and influence. 

Zoom addresses data privacy issues

With the continuing challenges of the pandemic, companies have allowed, encouraged or forced employees to work from home. Safety has become the mantra of many companies. But not all homes are equipped with the tools to enable productivity and efficiency of remote work.

 

Employees who work from home need a range of tools and technology. It starts with one’s internet connection which can get crowded with all other devices from family members connected. Often, I would tell my kids to shut down Netflix so I can have more bandwidth. Still, I would need to upgrade my Sky Broadband internet connection as soon my kids would also be studying from home. 

 

At least my MacBook Pro is still up to the challenge and is proof that technology works. I have deleted many files and documents, and even Rafa’s Minecraft app to allow more space. Still, I would need a new external drive.

 

Remote work has made Zoom part of the new normal around work collaboration tools. But even Zoom faced some recent challenges. Have you heard of “zoombombing?”

According to www.howtogeek.com, “Zoombombing” is when an uninvited person joins a Zoom meeting. Aren’t they like trolls? Zoombombers often share pornographic photos, throw in racial slurs and find ways to disrupt technology.

 

Photo from https://screenrant.com/zoom-bombing-report

Zoom zoomed in to address the issue. Even, Eric Yuan, Zoom’s chief executive, apologized. He said the recent problems are been addressed. Data privacy issues have been raised against Zoom. 

In a Zoom blog published last 8 April 2020, Yuan said, “We are committed to ensuring that the safety, privacy, and security of our platform is worthy of the trust of all of our users — both new and existing.”

 

If data is secured and protected, then, technology works.

Cashless transactions amidst the pandemic

With social distancing rules being strictly enforced around the country, technology is helping us navigate through the pandemic to keep us safe from the COVID-19 virus,

We all have seen the increasing use of cashless and contactless payment systems. eWallets are becoming more popular as they function like a debit card or credit card. This can be easy used in online purchase and retail establishments. 

Globe claims that GCash "has made financial transactions easier for its 20 million registered users. And with over 63,000 partner merchants in the country, it truly has helped revolutionize the way Filipinos transact." Yes, from bills payments to online shopping, GCash and other forms of eWallets have provided convenience to millions of Filipinos.

Cashless transactions are adjusting to changing consumer habits like refusing to handle cash. I am sure you have gone through a McDonald's or Jollibee drive-thru and the cashier would give you a small basket to place your cash. Yes, there is the fear that cash can carry the virus. But health and medical experts say there is little data to support this fear. Still, better safe than sorry. So, we better bring out our eWaller.

According to a Bloomberg story by Linda Poon, "The cashless economy may accelerate even faster in countries where pre-pandemic adoption was already high — like in Sweden, where some 80% of the population pay predominantly by card and just 1.3% of the country’s GDP is circulated in cash."

According to the 2016 Visa’s Consumer Payment Attitudes Survey, results revealed 49% of Filipinos are carrying more cards and 29% carry less cash since they consider e-payments safer than carrying cash.

The study also showed that 71% of Filipinos shop online at least once a month. This is up 11 percent compared to the previous year, as online platforms  like Carousell, Lazada and Shopee continue to enjoy increasing patronage.

The results of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' (BSP) FIS, revealed that Filipino adults who own accounts grew to 29% in 2019 from 23% in 2017. "The number of Filipino adults who are unbanked is estimated at 51.2 million, out of a total adult population of 72 million in 2019," says the BSP.

But would you believe that EMV technology was only implemented in 2017 in our country in 2017 while other countries have had it in place ten years ago?

With the primary concern of people and companies quickly evolving to focus on health and safety, we can say that cashless transactions will be an integral part of the new normal. 

Hopefully, financial institutions like banks would be more accommodating and flexible with their own regulations to bring more Filipinos to go cashless. And paperless too!

77% of Filipinos still unbanked

The recently released 2017 Financial Inclusion Survey (FIS) reports that 77% of Filipinos still unbanked. That is still a whole lot of Filipinos who are into the banking system. Only 15.8 million adult Filipinos, or 22.6 percent, have bank accounts. 

Other findings are:

1. The breakdown of 22.6 percent of adults who do own bank accounts shows 11.5% of them are in the formal banking sector, 8.1%are in non-government microfinance organizations, 2.9% are in cooperatives, and 0.3% are in non-stock savings and loan associations.

2. The top reason given for having bank accounts is to save in case of an emergency (42%), followed by saving for an education (31%), for business (29%), for safekeeping (23%) and as a form of investment (12%)

3. Around 52.8 million, or 77.4 percent, remain unbanked, citing reasons like lack of funds to put into a bank account or lack of documentary requirements. Or maybe, Filipinos still find many banks intimidating.

Opening a bank account can be made a simple and less intimidating process. And even, make it paperless.

Only if technology works to bring more financial inclusiveness for unbanked Filipinos.

Easily express ourselves

Before the norm was 140 characters. 

We were forced to be more concise and brief within 140 characters for a tweet. Every character counts. Brevity was key. It was a challenge to consolidate one's thought in 140 characters that sometimes, users like me would abandon scribbling a tweet.

Last November 7, Twitter announced the change in character count, which wouldn't affect Chinese, Korean and Japanese users as their characters can convey more meaning in a single character.

With 330 million users, Twitter still lags behind Facebook with more than 2 billion (yes, 2 billion users) and even Instagram which is pushing towards 800 million users.

Maybe, the expanded character count would bring in new users and spread more positivity online. Yes, we can criticise and critique and express our opinion via tweets. But do we need to be racists? Bigots? With positivity, technology can work. 

Origins of Twitter

Ten years ago, the first ever tweet came from Jack Dorsey last 22 March 2006. He is the co-founder and CEO of Twitter.  He was inspired by inspired in part by LiveJournal and by AOL Instant Messenger to develop a Web-based realtime status/short message communication service.

 

Together with Biz  Stone, they co-founded Twitter. Stone was previously the creative director of Xanga. Remember Xanga? I do. I think I even had a profile. It was one of the early social networking sites in the early 2000, before it became a Facebook world.

 

Today, Twitter is a microblogging and social networking platform which allows users post and interact with messages known as "tweets.” Noah Glass and Evan Williams joined Dorsey and Stone in March 2006 to start Twitter.

 

Dorsey would later explain the origins of Twitter. “

 

Some stories credit the name of Noah Glass. According to a Business Insider story, Dorsey had an idea for “a completely different product that revolved around "status" — what people were doing at a given time.” In an interview with Alexis Madrigal of The Atlantic, last 14 April 2011, Glass says it was he who came up with the name "Twttr."  "I spent a bunch of time thinking about it." Eventually, the name would become Twitter. 

The story further describes Glass passion. “No one at Odeo was more passionate about Twitter in the early days than Odeo's co-founder, Noah Glass.”

 

All these men have contributed to how technology works