The internet has connected billions of people around the world. It does what it's supposed to do, it's amazing, and it's a reliable portal to human information and experience.
So what is exactly wrong with that? From business perspective, nothing. The internet has created many companies and employments.
But according to Mozilla, the non-profit organization behind the Firefox browser, the internet is literally 'fcked'.
This is why the organization is calling on people to "Unfck the Internet" by taking a stand against major tech companies, governments, and others who spread misinformation.
The internet needs love. According to Mozilla, it needs to be protected from those who are just utilizing it for their own greed.
With that in mind, Mozilla has created a hub where people can see the ways Firefox is trying to keep the internet working at its best, and see the ways that internet users can help Mozilla 'unfck' things.
The campaign highlights that Mozilla exists to protect the internet and designs its products with privacy in mind.
The organization simply wants to take the control back, and stop those that are higher up from taking away people's privacy for the sake of selling them things they don't really need.
According to Mozilla in its blog post:
"Our search engines and social feeds are governed by algorithms that are biased in the same ways as the people who create it. False news stories online continue to confuse us as to what’s factual and what’s fake."
This is why the internet needs love.
In another blog post, Mozilla wrote that:
"We are inundated with sensational headlines every minute, of every day. You almost could make a full-time job of sorting the fun, interesting or useful memes, feeds and reels from those that should be trashed. It’s hard to know what to pay attention to, and where to put your energy."
"With so much noise, chaos and division, it seems that one of the only things we all have in common is relying on the internet to help us navigate everything that’s happening in the world, and in our lives."
For sure that the internet is giving all what people want. But it "isn't working," wrote Mozilla.
The internet is supposed to be magical, as it can bring forward all human knowledge that is documented on the web. But tech companies, governments and bad actors are becoming more dominant, more brazen, and more dangerous.
They have taken this digitized human experience, and turned it into a place "filled with misinformation, corruption and greed."
"So it’s time to sound the alarm."
"The internet we know and love is fcked up."
"Let’s unfck it together."
"It’s time to take control over what we do and see online, and not let the algorithms feed us whatever they want," Mozilla wrote.
As a start, Mozilla is giving people five ways to reclaim what’s good about the internet by clearing out the bad:
- Hold political ads accountable for misinformation.
- Understand issues that happen in the economy, to broaden the discussion by bringing more perspectives to the conversation.
- Prevent Facebook from following users around the rest of the web.
- Flag bad YouTube recommendations.
- Choose independent tech.
And to build a better internet, it needs to have the following:
- Dependable security.
- Fair trade data.
- Trusted content.
- Online respect.
- Universal access.
Mozilla knows that it cannot fight this alone.
Tech companies have gotten bigger and bigger, and governments are playing a more important role in shaping the web's information, and so do bad actors.
"We need people who understand what it is to be part of something larger than themselves. People who love the internet and appreciate its magic. People who are looking for a company they can support because we are all on the same side," Mozilla said.
"We know it’s going to take more than provocative language to make this real. Which is why at the heart of this campaign are ways all of us can participate in changing the internet for the better. That’s what this is all about: working together to unfck the internet."
"It’s time to unfck the internet. For our kids, for society, for the climate. For the cats."