Social Justice (DTC)

Tyler Prasad

Nazua Idris

DTC 101

12/14/21

Final Social Justice Paper

Social justice means equal social and political rights, as well as equal economic rights. Social justice embodies the idea that anyone can accomplish anything despite their social and economic status or background. When social justice is present the potential for an improvement in the economy and quality of life is sure to increase. If all people have access to the same resources and privileges despite their background or how bad their current situation may be then the opportunity to succeed would most definitely increase. This results in a benefit for all people due to the fact that more people would be making more money and contributing to the economy while at the same time are now able to sustain themselves with a stable or even potentially above-average income.

There are some that have worked towards providing social justice, however, those who have displayed that they have made this effort simultaneously undermine it with their products. The idea that large corporations are taking steps toward social justice yet at the same time undermining it with their products is highlighted in Kevins Roose’s article “Social Media Giants Support Racial Justice. Their Products Undermine It” (Roose), when he goes over how companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube display that a campaign geared towards social justice, however, the platforms instead did the exact opposite and allowed “racists and partisan provocateurs” to undermine the BLM movement and other social justice movements. Showing that yes there are companies and corporations trying to move towards social justice within their platform, however, it’s going to take a lot of change for that to occur.

Social justice issues in technology have been addressed by those who can understand how algorithms work and what can be improved. For example, algorithm creator Nicholas T. Young in his article, “I Know Some Algorithms Are Biased Because I Created One” states, “To address issues with the algorithm, we can push for algorithms’ transparency, where anyone could see how an algorithm works and contribute improvements.” (Young). Young is showing that he and those like him are aware that current algorithms in today’s technology attempt to incorporate social justice however those algorithms can be improved in order to effectively move towards real social justice throughout all technology.

I think social media and the internet are the biggest areas to improve on in regards to the intersection of social justice and technology due to the fact that it currently is heavily flawed and biased. For example, in Ellen E. Jones’s article, “Why are memes of black people reacting so popular online?” Jones provides an example of a Twitter user impersonating a black woman flaunting her sexual prowess simply due to the fact the user impersonating used a black woman in lingerie as the profile picture, and people believed it, the account at its peak had 30,000 followers until it was revealed that the user of the account was “Alex Munkacsy, a bearded, 32-year-old white man working in the tech industry.” (Jones). This piece of evidence highlights how easy it is to create a false persona and deceive people on a much larger scale due to the fact that social media connects the entire world and when social justice is compromised others who are uneducated or unaware may believe this false information or false persona to be true, this same idea of creating false personas and information can be applied to much more serious topics such as BLM and other movements in the future. Furthermore, in Max Eddy’s article “How Companies Turn Your Data Into Money” Eddy also touched on the idea that internet corporations could improve in regards to social justice and technology when he states, “With the Google Assistant and Alexa voice assistants, you can even listen to recordings of every question you've ever asked.” (Eddy). With this piece of evidence Eddy is highlighting that currently, companies in the tech/social media industry have way too much power and control over user information without allowing the user to access this information. This compromises social justice in technology due to the fact that potential data about a user that the user may not want to share is available despite their wishes ultimately undermining the user and what they want to keep private all for money. In addition, Zeynep Tufekci in her article “YouTube, the Great Radicalizer” builds off the idea that tech corporations need to improve and have too much power when she states, “This situation is especially dangerous given how many people — especially young people — turn to YouTube for information.” (Tufecki). Tufecki is showing that companies are aware that the majority of those still learning are turning to these platforms to learn and when the power to create a bias or convey a certain side of a story is used on a younger generation trying to learn, false ideas and misconceptions are bound to occur potentially leading those still learning down a specific path to become someone in an echo chamber surrounded by only their false and unjust ideas in a way forcing someone down a close-minded political path potentially creating extremists, and/or racists.

My own thinking about the subject has evolved greatly over the course due to the fact that I know the huge role technology plays in influencing social justice in today’s society. There is far too much power possessed by these tech giants without any regulation or public access which needs to be dealt with immediately in order to stop algorithmic bias and improve social justice.

Works cited

Tufekci, Zeynep. “YouTube, the Great Radicalizer - COINSE.” YouTube, the Great Radicalizer, New York Times, Mar. 2018, https://coinse.io/assets/files/teaching/2019/cs489/Tufekci.pdf.

Eddy, Max. “How Companies Turn Your Data into Money.” PCMAG, PCMag, 10 Oct. 2018, https://www.pcmag.com/news/how-companies-turn-your-data-into-money.

Jones, Ellen. “Why Are Memes of Black People Reacting so Popular Online?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 8 July 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2018/jul/08/why-are-memes-of-black-people-reacting-so-popular-online.

Roose, Kevin. “File (2).PDF - Social Media Giants Support Racial Justice Their Products Undermine It[with Graphic(s Roose Kevin New York Times Late Edition(East Coast: Course Hero.” Social Media Giants Support Racial Justice Their Products Undermine It[With Graphic(s Roose Kevin New York Times Late Edition(East Coast |, New York Times, June 2020,

Young, Nicholas T. “I Know Some Algorithms Are Biased-Because I Created One.” Scientific American Blog Network, Scientific American, 31 Jan. 2020, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/voices/i-know-some-algorithms-are-biased-because-i-created-one/.