If 2018 had been annus horribilis for Facebook, shaken by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, 2019 would have been a poor year for all platforms. Hate online, accusations of sexual assault on certain VTC applications or huge fines, social networks are still concentrating user reviews and arousing distrust.
Paradoxically, far from putting them off, more and more internet users are registering on these platforms, and in particular the younger ones who like Instagram, Snapchat or Tik Tok. However, uses are changing and the year that has just started could be marked by major changes. Which ones? 20 Minutes takes stock.
The end of the number of “likes” on Instagram
Rest assured, distributing hearts on Instagram will still be possible in 2020. But the network, owned by the giant Facebook, has already made a major change. Tested in several countries and for a limited number of users, the disappearance of the number of “likes” obtained under publications should become generalized during the year. To justify this choice, the network explained that it wanted "subscribers to focus on what they share, not on how many likes their publications garner" and thus reduce "social pressure" exerted by this functionality.
A decision welcomed in July by Eric Letonturier, sociologist and lecturer at the Paris Descartes Sorbonne University, specialist in social networks. “ Likes create a particular form of addiction. The user is constantly asked to give his opinion, whether positive or negative. By removing the display of this feature, exchanges will return to the private sphere. It's a bit of a return to privacy, to confidentiality, ”he explained interviewed by 20 Minutes . A 2018 study in the United States by the Pew Research Center showed that 40% of teenagers in the country who used Instagram felt obliged to share only the content that gathered a lot of "likes" or comments.
Tik Tok, new advertising Eldorado?
Launched in September 2017 by the Chinese company ByteDance, the application of short videos Tik Tok has become in three years the favorite playground of teenagers of the planet and influencers in search of visibility. Downloaded more than 1.5 billion times worldwide, nearly two-thirds of Tik Tok users are under the age of 30, according to Sensor Tower. A financial windfall for advertisers who could, in 2020, rush to the application.
Today, four advertising formats are available for brands wishing to reach this popular target, and several major players in the sector have seized it, especially in the United States. Last May, the fast-food brand Chipotle launched a vast campaign using a keyword broadcast on Tik Tok, the “#ChipotleLidFlip”, thus accumulating nearly 230 million views and more than 100,000 interactions. Several clothing brands have also seized this opportunity. Finally, the platform recently offers, as part of certain campaigns, purchase buttons directly redirecting the user to the brand's site. A shift towards e-commerce which could accelerate sharply in 2020.
Platforms constrained to more regulation
It's a bottom line that now affects almost all platforms, all over the world. After the vote of the GDPR, a regulation responsible for guaranteeing the protection of the personal data of Internet users within the European Union, the pressure on social networks in terms of regulation could increase in 2020. In the United States, new similar legislation to the European GDPR, was implemented on January 1 in California: the "California Consumer Privacy Act" (CCPA). Whether it is the collection of personal data or the regulation of hate online, all platforms are now called upon to act, both by users and by certain governments.
In France, the start of 2020 should be marked by the debates in the joint joint committee on the law against online hatred. The text, unraveled and voted by senators last December, provides for the establishment of a series of constraints for social networks: transparency on the means implemented and the results obtained or enhanced cooperation with the justice system. A change in legislation that could inspire some presidential candidates in the United States.
Questioned by the Vox site , several pretenders Democrats expressed themselves in favor of a modification of the American law to give more responsibility to the platforms conveying or promoting the propagation of hate speech. In Ireland, the subject will also be at the heart of debates during 2020 since the Minister of Justice, Charlie Flanagan launched a broad public consultation in order to reform hate crimes and crimes, especially when they are committed online.
2020, advent of "deepfake"?
The 2016 US presidential election is still in everyone's mind in Silicon Valley. Accused of having promoted the spread of false news and divisive content, social networks will, in this new electoral year, be expected at the turn. The so-called “deep fake” technology, which makes it possible to replace one face by another on a video and to attribute to an individual words that he or she did not say, is a source of great concern in the United States . In order to get ahead of the critics, Facebook has already announced its "plan" to "protect" the 2020 election.
The company plans this year to better protect the accounts of candidates and elected officials, to strengthen transparency, by clearly indicating who controls the political pages or the pages of state media. At the end of November, the giant Google also said it was ready to fight against fake hyperrealistic photos or videos that could "significantly harm participation or confidence in the electoral or democratic process". "Fake news has strong short-term effects on voting intentions, and weaker long-term effects, but with accumulation it can topple an election" warned last May Emeric Henry, economist at Sciences po Paris , who conducted a study on the impact of fact-checking in an electoral context.
Across the Atlantic, the threat is taken seriously by certain elected officials who are gradually trying to legislate. In December 2018, a first federal bill directly targeting this technology was tabled. Since then, two states, California and Texas have enacted laws that make deepfakes illegal when they interfere with an election. A first political step supported by another initiative officially launched at the end of 2019: the "Deepfake Detection Challenge". Funded in part by Facebook and conducted jointly with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft and several American universities, this global open data project aims to combat the spread of these false videos.
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