LeDomduVin: The problem with Instagram (and other social media) algorithms and AI technology

The problem with Instagram (and other social media) algorithms and AI technology

Unbelievable, Instagram has deleted one of my pictures of a fake Petrus label ("Pacurs" - posted with a post I wrote on fake and counterfeited bottles) from my Instagram account for IP violation, stating that the right owner is S. C. Petrus. I'm sure the Moueix family will be happy to know that Instagram is associating fake labels like "Pacurs" (as seen in China) as part of their wines. 

Instagram is associating this fake label of Petrus with Petrus, stating that they are the rightful owners of this label, which is not the case. Petrus has nothing to do with this fake label. 

Moreover, if we want to go deeper, what does this IP violation mean? 

Does it mean that no one should post pictures of wine labels unless they are the rightful owner of the brand? 

That's insane! Millions of wine labels are posted on a regular basis on several social media networks such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and even LinkedIn (and many others). 

So the question is: Will Instagram remove every single post with a wine label if not posted by the rightful owner of this label? That's insane!!! 

The other question is: Is Instagram going to apply this rule to all other brands? 

It's totally absurd

Let's talk further about Algorithms and Ai in general...

This situation with algorithms and AI is, unfortunately, a problem we may have to face more and more in the coming years. As excessive rules, digitalization, and zealous cyber security increase, it will become even more difficult to post anything else than AI-generated images that have no soul, no context, and no real meaning, except the one imagined by the one who vocally asked the AI or inputted the text to create that picture. 

And, there are already millions of AI-generated pictures posted on a daily basis on most social media and networks. You can easily recognize them by the quality of the image which either looks too perfect to be true or too weird to be real. The most risible to me are the ones with real pictures of the head and fake bodies, too perfect, too symmetrical, while we all know that nothing is symmetrical in the human body. It is so obvious, it is ridiculous.  

How sad and depressed can you be to search for such impossible perfection in a fake image of yourself? And what kind of satisfaction does it brings you except more despair and the dislike of your real self?   

I know that our society has become one of stereotypes and hopeless souls unable to face their life without hiding behind a screen, but still, one has to accept reality rather than find comfort in this ever-increasing fake digital world.   

Personally, I have been posting real pictures of real wine labels on my social media for years without a problem, except maybe for the people taking my pictures to use them for their own social media and websites, the reason why, over the last few years, I have taken the habit of always writing "Ledomduvin" on all my pictures (good or bad) to prevent this from happening.  

However, to take another example, recently, these last few months, Instagram has been implementing new rules, one of them being "Monetization & shops" (Branded Content and shopping). Consequently, for some of my pictures, IG is asking me if it is a "branded" post, and, if it is, to state the "brand partner", while my pictures are mostly wine labels of the bottles I open and taste while working during private and corporate events for the company I work for.  

Therefore, they have nothing to do with the brands or producers. And I'm not an "influencer", nor a "content creator". I do not "partner" with brands to make money from the content of my posts. But because the algorithms or AI in charge of verifying these things on IG cannot see or make the difference, it pops out the question on regular basis and may refuse the post, which is really annoying.      

Anyway, I could talk about it for hours or even days, but I do not want to bore you with this subject that has invaded our everyday life and has become so common that it has already been accepted by most people, as we do NOT have the choice, it has been imposed to us. So, what's the point? 

And, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that algorithms and AI are necessarily bad things. On the contrary, for certain things, they both became essential in our daily life, and we wouldn't know what to do without them. Yet, I guess I'm old now (50 years old), and I'm part of a generation that grew up without and witnessed the rapid transition over the last 20 years. And I'm not saying that everything was better before, as I'm not against progress and the use of technologies to ease our life, but still, I preferred many aspects of our life as they were then rather than now.   

Take good care of yourself and your loved ones. 

Dom

#ledomduvin @ledomduvin #petrus #pacurs #fake #fakelabel #counterfeit #fakepetrus

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