Madhuri Sastry, Suchitra Vijayan and Bhakti Shringarpure dissect the coverage of big spectacles like Bad Bunny at the Super Bowl and the protests against Winter Olympics, both of which have been deemed resistant and political. Uprisings in Minneapolis continue. Is the US at a tipping point and if so, what are the limits of American revolt? Will the media rise to this unprecedented moment as the anger of a public begins to burst at the seams? The Epstein Files continue their assault on our psyches but the mainstream media refuses analysis. Meanwhile starvation in Cuba, Sudan, Palestine reaches distressing levels but the silence around it is deafening.

The podcast It’s Not You, It’s The Media returns after a hiatus. Hosts Bhakti Shringarpure, Suchitra Vijayan and Madhuri Sastry unpack the current saturated media moment as ICE violence reaches new levels, the Epstein files rock the boat everywhere, and Palestine is deliberately forgotten by the media.

The hosts take a critical look at the algorithms ruling our lives on social media and beyond, with a warning to divest from celebrity content and culture that permeates the news cycle, politics, and more. Whereas the early Facebook and Instagram eras were known for curated and bespoke feeds that were personally made for you, social media has largely become a commercialized landscape with scarily targeted ads and influencers promoting the next big thing in makeup, skincare, clothing, and more.

These algorithms have an outsized influence on politics too, and the hosts discuss the ways social and political movements drove engagement on social media – from the Arab Spring in the early 2010s to the movement for Palestine now. Even as communities on the margins seek to take advantage of the more “democratized” social media platforms, the companies that are so invested in keeping you scrolling relentlessly push celebrity and influencer content, no matter how much or little you engage with them. The hosts outline the algorithmic, commercial, and celebrity culture logics coming together at this moment, where you might want to share and find news about Palestine, but will be recommended reel after reel of Bollywood stars instead.

We remain bystanders in an ongoing genocide, but are continuously fed celebrity content and forced to care about the intimate details of the lives of celebrities and influencers online. These algorithms are destructive, as they seek to distract and keep us complacent. The hosts call on our listeners to resist the algorithm and its seemingly all-encompassing control over our lives, so that we can reclaim power in the digital and physical information landscape.

Key Takeaways:

• Social media algorithms have evolved from bespoke curated feeds to commercialized targeting, with specific ads geared towards us based on seconds-long interactions with posts
• This algorithmic logic influences how news is circulated and consumed too – outlets like Buzzfeed that function primarily as news aggregators take advantage of celebrity culture to keep social media users engaged
• Celebrity culture has captured every sphere of our lives – going so far as to have celebrity endorsements and statements become key influences in election cycles
• The algorithm and social media companies benefit from the constant stream of intimate details of every celebrity scandal and personality that has destroyed our attention spans.
• Political content is constantly suppressed in favor of ever more ridiculous and polarizing posts and scandals, as is demonstrated by the shadow-banning of accounts posting about Palestine in the ongoing genocide.

Keywords:

celebrity culture, celebrity algorithms, algorithmic logics, influencers, social media, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Palestine, reels, For You page, curation, Gaza, genocide