Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2023
Keywords
digital media, technology-facilitated abuse, intimate partner violence, Facebook, platform governance
Abstract
This paper contributes to feminist conversations about algorithms and design justice by examining ways Facebook’s (Meta) Memories affordance, when it draws on previously posted photographs of abusive former partners, is problematic for gender-based violence (GBV) survivors. With analyses drawn from semi-structured interviews with twelve “survivor-users” and a walkthrough of Memories’ settings to better understand what opportunities users have to control this function, this paper finds that Memories triggers survivors, makes their abuser seem inescapable and reduces survivors’ sense of agency, among other challenges to their well-being. By extending abusers’ intimidation back into survivors’ lives, Memories unintentionally supports perpetrators’ aims: to scare, isolate and punish their targets. This paper concludes that a masculinist bias within Memories’ design leads to painful consequences for survivor-users of varying identities. Ultimately, this study proposes possible means of addressing Memories’ challenges for survivor-users, including the option for users to opt in to, rather than out of, the function in the first place; alterations to Memories’ interface to enable the immediate flagging of problematic content; and continued movements towards trauma-informed design practices in the technology sector.
Faculty
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences (FHASS)
Program
Digital Humanities
Journal
Feminist Media Studies
Volume
23
Issue
8
First Page
3901
Last Page
3923
Version
Pre-print
Copyright
© Nicolette Little
Terms of Use
Terms of Use for Works posted in SOURCE.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Original Publication Citation
Little, N. (2023). Social media “ghosts”: how Facebook (Meta) Memories complicates healing for survivors of intimate partner violence. Feminist Media Studies, 23 (8), 3901-3923. DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2022.2149593
SOURCE Citation
Little, Nicolette, "Social Media “Ghosts”: How Facebook (Meta) Memories Complicates Healing for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence" (2023). Publications and Scholarship. 42.
https://source.sheridancollege.ca/fhass_publications/42