I’ll never use Duolingo or any other product whose company posts “organically” on social media like Duolingo does.
It should be illegal for brands to post comments on personal social media (this includes things like reddit, lemmy, or Tiktok), as doing so forces the user’s page to serve as a billboard for the brand while the user receives no compensation for this implicit endorsement and only even has autonomy in this advertisement in so far as their ability to delete the brand’s comment, assuming they noticed it in the first place. It’s disgusting. Duolingo isn’t allowed to come to my house and put a sign in my yard without my permission, so they shouldn’t be able to effectively do the same thing in our digital yards either.
They can’t come in your house because you own the house and you set the rules.
With social media, you and Duolingo are both guests in someone else’s house, and the host has decided you two may interact. Your remedy is to leave 🤷♂️
In principle, sure, but this basically becomes the “are social media providers modern common carriers” debate, unless you choose to look at the issue with the least possible nuance.
I’ll never use Duolingo or any other product whose company posts “organically” on social media like Duolingo does.
It should be illegal for brands to post comments on personal social media (this includes things like reddit, lemmy, or Tiktok), as doing so forces the user’s page to serve as a billboard for the brand while the user receives no compensation for this implicit endorsement and only even has autonomy in this advertisement in so far as their ability to delete the brand’s comment, assuming they noticed it in the first place. It’s disgusting. Duolingo isn’t allowed to come to my house and put a sign in my yard without my permission, so they shouldn’t be able to effectively do the same thing in our digital yards either.
They can’t come in your house because you own the house and you set the rules.
With social media, you and Duolingo are both guests in someone else’s house, and the host has decided you two may interact. Your remedy is to leave 🤷♂️
In principle, sure, but this basically becomes the “are social media providers modern common carriers” debate, unless you choose to look at the issue with the least possible nuance.