A new tool to avoid trolls online
Bottom Line: Something we can probably universally agree on is that avoiding trolls online is desirable. For that matter toning down on the negativity we come across on social media, comments, etc. online would generally be nice right? Well, that’s what Google’s thinking too with the latest roll out of a Chrome extension that aims to let you control the amount of negativity you want to be exposed to online.
- Google’s new experimental extension is called“Tune”
So, what’s Tune do? It allows you to control the amount of “negative” content you come across on popular sites and services. From dialing back on only the most negative comments and posters identified by Google, to the turning off any comments, you control the amount of commentary you want to be exposed to. It also screens for profanity that’s customizable.
The new extension is enabled for:
- All Google services (YouTube is a Google company)
- Disqus
It’s interesting for sure and if perfected could be a key to balancing social media use without the negative feeling most users experience along the way. Additionally, if trolls are effectively not being responded to, you might imagine they’d potentially stop trolling somewhere along the way. That’s all of the good potential stuff. There is abut(t). Once again this comes down to the engineers at Google who program this extension. How are they determining positive and negative/toxic content algorithmically? Can they be trusted in a hyper-partisan time? At its best it could be great. At its worst...well is MAGA a four-letter word? Time will potentially tell.