Clubhouse, an emerging social media platform created during the coronavirus-driven lockdowns, has given users the opportunity to interact with virtual strangers through intimate audio conversations, even when isolated at home.
But as the platform continues to grow, the same model that allowed users to connect while physically separated raises concerns about how the app will tackle the spread of misinformation.
Unlike traditional social media platforms, where a user’s footprint is more permanent, Clubhouse’s chat room conversations are not recorded by the app, making it “essentially impossible” to detect the spread of false information or harassment, Emerson Brooking says. resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, told The Hill.
“Because your words don’t follow you in the same way as with a Twitter account, you feel more relaxed, and that means the app is working as intended. But of course it also means that it presents certain dangers, ”added Brooking.
Brooking said Clubhouse’s model allows users to speak up without necessarily thinking about whether they are sharing accurate information – or the consequences of spreading misinformation.
Clubhouse is designed to allow users to enter and exit chat rooms that focus on a variety of topics. A listener can choose to participate by virtually raising their hand, and a moderator can then allow them to become a speaker in the room.
Moderators, or the user who starts the clubhouse room, can also add or remove other speakers so they can lead the conversation.
Clubhouse has provided a platform for people to hold informal panels across a wide variety of fields, while traditional conferences and events have been canceled due to the pandemic.
But the informal nature of the app has already led to reports of misinformation spreading, including the spread of false claims about the coronavirus and coronavirus vaccine, as Vice reported earlier this month. Such false claims have also continued to harass traditional social media platforms, even as Twitter and Facebook have pledged to crack down on the content.
“It is a major concern at the moment that this could be an ideal meeting place for members of the anti-vaccine community, as it allows people to convene sympathetic clubhouses that talk and increase the content of the anti-vaccine. And they can control the course of the conversation so that other voices might not be heard, ”said Brooking.
Clubhouse rules for users prohibit the distribution of “false information or spam” as well as abuse and harassment. And while Clubhouse does not typically record its sessions, the platform’s guidelines state that it has a temporary audio recording to support incident investigation. If a user reports an incident in real time, the platform will be prompted to save the temporary recording.
But if a user reports an incident after the room has ended, according to guidelines, the platform will not be able to access the room’s audio to support the investigation.
As the app continues to grow, the problem of misinformation can also arise.
The platform first launched with a smaller number of users in March last year, around the time the global lockdowns started. Despite still being in an invitation-only phase, Clubhouse has grown rapidly in popularity, with more than 10 million installations worldwide as of Friday, according to data from app analytics company Sensor Tower.
A Clubhouse spokesperson did not respond to comment to confirm how many active users are on the platform to date, but in a January 24 blog post, Clubhouse estimated that it had about 2 million users that week.
Since then, the number of installations has increased. In the three weeks between January 25 and February 14, Clubhouse saw approximately 6 million installations worldwide, a 400 percent increase from the previous three weeks, based on Sensor Tower data.
People who download the app and have not yet been invited may enter their information to receive their invitation to join via an already member interconnect, or to be notified when the app is opened to the general public.
The app has already attracted high profile users, from Elon Musk
Elon Reeve MuskSpaceX Built a True Commercial Space Line for Fun, Profit, and Charity Oldest US Bank BNY Mellon Holds Bitcoin for Customers Mastercard to Support Cryptocurrencies MORE to Lindsay Lohan, to give the platform a boost.
“I think this is the new ‘it’ place to be, at a time when you can’t be anywhere,” said Jennifer Grygiel, an assistant professor of communications at Syracuse University.
“Many people who started this were influencers. Even they were stuck at home during this pandemic, ”added Grygiel.
According to experts, Clubhouse may have a head start in reducing the spread of viral disinformation compared to its traditional social media counterparts.
Unlike almost every other platform, including Twitter and Facebook, there is no ‘listening’ feature that allows users to share each other’s messages, which is often how messages, including misinformation, are distributed to a wide audience.
“If there’s one thing that really sets it apart, it’s the reduced virality capacity built into the platform itself,” said Aram Sinnreich, a professor at American University’s School of Communication.
While some have voiced concerns that misinformation could spread more freely as conversations disappear after a chat room has ended, Sinnreich downplayed those concerns. Users who tend to have a wide audience would be wary of the conversations being archived or monitored by an outside source, he said.
“I think anyone who deals with being an influencer – a public figure, a celebrity, a professional propaganda or disinformation disseminator, a political organizer – anyone with that kind of job will know a description of the limited security and capacity for monitoring and filing at Clubhouse and will act accordingly, ”said Sinnreich.
And anyone who is not aware of that and feels more free to express themselves than would happen on Facebook or Twitter is an ignorant person who does not understand social media and therefore has a limited capacity to include other people. “he added.
However, as more people join the platform and it opens up to the public, the changing user base could change the culture of the app and potentially lead to further risks of disinformation spreading, experts warned.
“In a few years, there is a future where, if Clubhouse took the path of Facebook, a demographic age 65 and older would en masse join the platform,” Brooking said, noting that Facebook was launched as a site that is reserved only for university students.
“And instead of being a place for Silicon Valley elites to have highly tech-oriented conversations, it would, in fact, be the future of talk radio,” he added. “And if we took that path, the dangers of dis-and-misinformation would be much greater.”