If We're Regulating Social Media, Let's Talk About Customer Support

Last night I did something I have managed to avoid so far this election cycle - watch one of those televised debates. These increasingly seem to be billed as a spectacle bigger than the Rumble in the Jungle, with the nation hanging on the verdict of a totally legit “who is winning” vote system that definitely isn’t just measuring whose supporters are most enthusiastic about clicking. Somewhere between the catchy soundbites and gotcha moments, there is also occasionally some robust discussion of actual policy, which is nice.

In the context of social media regulation being a headline issue, both Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins set out their respective stalls on social media age restriction and what to do about the wider issue of taxing these tech giant companies that have the resources, structures and power to basically pay minuscule levels of tax in New Zealand versus their revenues.

Both of our prospective next PMs gave what I thought were well-reasoned and insightful answers, so credit where it is due to both of them.

But lost in the noise of the discussions around restricting social media to those aged 16 and over, what can be done to “tame” algorithms, and how to solve the tax issue (and whether any of this is, in fact, doable or even desirable) is another issue that affects many Kiwis and Kiwi businesses, and which in my view should form part of any attempt to wrestle with the giants of tech for the benefit of the average New Zealander.

That issue is the largely ubiquitous lack of customer service/support offered by tech platforms that occupy oftentimes a fundamental place in private lives, public discourse and day-to-day business activity.

It is this lack of service and support when things go wrong - particularly for businesses that through no real fault of their own (but perhaps a lack of understanding) have become far too dependent on the whims of social media platforms - that can cause real problems and harms in both private and professional contexts.

If we are going to regulate social media (or at least make an attempt to do so) perhaps it is time we discuss whether it is acceptable to basically take your customers’ private information, attention-spans and advertising dollars and then make it far more difficult than it needs to be - if not impossible - to get help and recourse when something goes wrong.

In other words, maybe if we are going to do our typically Kiwi thing and try to be bold and punch above our weight in this arena, it’s time to be even bolder still.