Decentagram: A Decentralised Social Media Using Blockchain

Aman J.  Sen; Sakshi S. Nikum; Harshvardhan A.  Kadam; Dhanashri  Sakhare

Abstract

Nowadays, it is almost impossible to meet someone who does not share at least a small portion of their life online. 3.53 billion people were active users of social media as of July. This is 45% of the world's population, and the quota rises over the threshold for individuals with internet access which is 80%. Such capillary entry into people's daily activities indicates the ability of large social media businesses to integrate advertising with surgical accuracy and great financial results. The revenue was $27 billion or so in only 2021. These businesses gain from the promise to sell users' data to advertisers to offer highly tailored advertisements. Users' privacy is seriously threatened by social networks' intrusion into their virtual life, which leaves them open to malevolent manipulation and behaviour influence. The “Cambridge Analytica” incident exposed how 50 million oblivious Facebook users' information were collected to build an algorithm that might sway US votes through precise political advertising. If, on the one hand, the lack of editorial oversight and the unreliability of users permit the dissemination of inaccurate and damaging information, on the other side, the right to information is jeopardized by the centralization of data management and storage. Additionally, there are several instances of social media being shut down or manipulated to suppress protests around the world, such as the recent protests in Hong Kong. Social networks are plagued by data breaches in addition to other issue such as fake news and the presence of phoney account bots. This study examines how Blockchain technology can be utilized to change the social media platform through transparent policies, value redistribution, ownership control, decentralization of data, and avoiding censorship by analysing 40 developing platforms.

Abstract

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