Should Social Media Platforms be a Public Utility?

Yesterday, I logged into Google Ads to fiddle with a campaign for my Shopify indie bookstore. I noticed an error where I wasn’t able to add new data sources. Thinking this was just your run-of-the-mill delete cache/cookies, and restart, I did just that. Big mistake. A day later, I’m staring at a bricked Twitter account that’s locked in a 2FA SMS loop all because Elon Musk really wants to charge people to use a free service he wasted billions on.

At first, this didn’t seem like a problem. I spend too much time on Twitter, and it’s not like my core business functions were tied to it. Except that isn’t true. Hunched over my keyboard, I’m now staring at broken tools all because my account’s SSO is bricked during a new psychological thriller ARC launch. Not only that, but most of my direct reader connections occur on Twitter. I even instruct readers to directly DM if they’re unsure about a book purchase. How many businesses have made Twitter ubiquitous for their day-to-day?

As the migraine of stress started up, I navigated to Product Hunt, which—as silly as it is to say—is a source of comfort. Though I’ve put tech-creative freelancing on the back burner, I still engage with Startups. Tech was my home, and Product Hunt was my go-to. It can’t be right now, because of Twitter SSO. The migraine continues.

Now having sent my silly little Twitter support ticket, I know that this blockage likely won’t be solved anytime soon. A blockage I couldn’t imagine would be a problem because any sane tech company would remove SMS 2FA and push you along with email verification to update your settings. A blockage I thought I wouldn’t run into, because Twitter was on my phone and an update surely wouldn’t log me out. A blockage I didn’t think would impact my business, but it probably will, and the ETA for solving it is weeks-out, if ever.

This doesn’t matter to most people I know. They have no concept that it’s not about Twitter, it’s about access. They don’t understand the internet and its connection to social media the way I do, either. My friends extend sympathy, while I extend something else: brutal clarity about the hyper-complex digital social systems we all use every single day.

Think about where your brand hosts its explainer videos, which is Youtube. Think about LinkedIn job applications and where all the recruiters are. Think about how Twitter Trends impact news media. Think about how TikTok’s BookTok community creates wins for both traditional publishers and indie authors alike. Think about how Facebook Ads are the go-to for eCommerce. Think about how looking up software questions on Reddit gives you the one answer you need to solve an obscure problem, posted by some dude 6 years ago. Think about the digital ad tools your Startup uses and how many of them leverage social audiences. Don’t forget the remarketing cookies. Everything online is social because the internet is a social medium.

Social media is the outlet of the people during the pandemic—which yes—is still raging on. It’s the data used to train many, many LLMs. It’s the DM that connects you to a meeting that changes your life forever. It’s how disabled people crowdfund. It’s how trans people find community. It’s how you know indie creators exist in a corporate pay-to-play digital world.

Someday, we will reach a point where so much of life, industry, and society will be digital that we can no longer consider the internet anything less than a public utility. Where access to the internet will be rightfully recognized as a requirement for modern living. Where access to social media will underpin access to society itself and social groups therein.

I want us to think critically about the future of our hyper-complex, hyper-connected social internet. What we build and break today will lay the blueprints for tomorrow. I can only hope that tomorrow doesn’t bring our house of digital dominos falling as it did for me recently. I will be smarter about all of this, but will social media giants? I don’t know.

K. Leigh is an ex-freelancer, full-time author, and weirdo artist. Check out their lgbt+ sci-fi books or send them an email if you’d like to chat about tech, art, and social good. 🌈 🏳️‍⚧️