| "Follow the money" is cliché for a reason: When trying to figure out why something happens, it helps to find out who profits. The answer is not so easy to trace, however, through the complicated and often misunderstood systems underlying our digital lives. Over the past five weeks, WIRED has been excavating these hidden architectures with two unique series, each focused on a different mechanism powering so much of the internet today. In Dark Patterns, WIRED writers examined the manipulative design elements used by platforms to stack the deck in their favor, be it social media or retail or banking or search. Re: Targeting, meanwhile, looked at how the digital advertising industry can underwrite harmful, divisive, and misleading online content, while undermining legitimate journalism and other authorities. Both of these practices, their critics claim, prioritize business models over users' welfare, and the open web suffers as a result. A healthier internet will require staying alert and informed—and helping others do so, as well. Plus: Help us learn how much trust, or not, people have in products such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Amazon. We spend much of our waking lives using these platforms. Take our survey and tell us what you think of them. |
