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Hello everyone, this is Ryan and you are listening to The Vegan Report.

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Today we are talking about social media and their bad influence on vegan advocacy efforts.

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I know we have already touched on the topic back in episode 32 of the show with our good

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friend George Martin.

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But this episode is a solo episode.

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For this episode I took the time to write down my thoughts regarding social media in

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an article published in the magazine The Animal's Voice.

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And for today I wanted to read the article out loud.

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I wanted to share with you my very unpopular arguments regarding this very important issue.

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This is definitely a first for the show, I promise to get back to the usual interview

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format of the podcast as soon as next week.

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But for now I present you our social media undermining vegan advocacy.

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A few months ago Mark Zuckerberg revealed that one of his favorite pastime is to create

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some of the highest quality beef in the world.

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Indeed he keeps a cattle of wagyu and Angus beef on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

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He decided to raise them with a diet of macadamia nuts and beer.

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The media coverage of this story has been lighthearted and positive.

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One fortune article was titled, Mark Zuckerberg says his daughter thought that I was a cattle

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rancher for a while thanks to his unusual hobby in Hawaii.

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Yet camouflaged by the amused tone of journalists hides a heartless cruelty.

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The sad reality of dozens of captive-sensitive beings who are misfed nuts and poisoned with

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alcohol in anticipation of a violent and unnecessary slaughter.

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In addition to ethical concerns there is the worry of environmental destruction.

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As a matter of fact cattle ranching plagues the fragile ecosystem of Hawaii, provoking

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deforestation, soil degradation and biodiversity loss.

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However the question I want to raise in view of this situation is, can vegans depend on

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this man and his company Metta to advance the animal rights mission?

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Explicitly is it wise for this movement to rely on an unsympathetic private platform

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with a long record of content censorship?

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And even more broadly, can vegans depend on social media at all to efficiently advance

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their cause?

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Anecdotes of people adopting veganism because of a YouTube video or a Reddit post can be

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counted by the thousands.

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Yet there is no major study examining the true impact of vegan content on social media.

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No researcher has asked pertinent questions such as, are those anecdotes accurate?

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Are we conflating social media engagement with making meaningful change?

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For every person who has been receptive to the vegan message, how many have been put

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off?

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Have social media users become desensitized to the hyperactivity of vegans online?

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To the point there is no hard evidence justifying the hundreds of thousands of dollars habitually

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spent by animal rights organizations and activists on social media campaigns.

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Unfortunately the cost of a social media presence for veganism is more than monetary.

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Alarmingly the social media ecosystem is quickly deforming the vegan movement beyond recognition.

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In 1944, veganism was first defined as the principle of the emancipation of animals from

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exploitation by men, and to seek an end to the use of animals by men for food, commodities,

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work, hunting, vivisection and by all other uses involving exploitation of animal life

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by men.

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It is a clear and uniting ethical stance focused on the liberation of animals.

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Yet most social media activity related to veganism is a witch brew of pseudoscience

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peddling, nutrition quackery, trend chasing, snake-all salesmanship, new age confusion

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and personality cults.

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An idiotic world which gravity field has brought down one of the most enlightened ethical philosophy

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to the mud of a fad diet.

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An expected outcome from platforms that reward popularity indiscriminately of any quality

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or safety standards.

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After losing credibility and reputation at the hands of virtual gurus, veganism can count

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on identity politics and echo chambers to lose its universal appeal.

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Since being captured by the intersectionality paradigm, the vegan message of compassion

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is prevented from appealing to independent, moderate and conservative crowds.

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For instance, try making the right-wing argument for veganism without encountering a barrage

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of dislikes, downvotes and angry comments from vegans.

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Then there is the social media addiction that has consumed the time, attention, energy,

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creativity and passion of too many animal advocates.

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It is a compulsion disguised as activism which pushes people into an emotional spiral of

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burning outrage, hindering obsessions, mindless reactions and crazed fits.

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It is an unequivocal demonstration that algorithms and not principles or strategy are piloting

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the vegan movement.

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At the same time, there is a great need for vegans to think outside the social media box

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and make a real life and offline contribution to the fight for animal liberation.

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For example, Liz White, a long-time activist and the leader of the Animal Protection Party

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of Canada, shared with me in an interview that

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If we really want things to change for animals in Canada, we have to do the politics.

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On Facebook, the Animal Protection Party of Canada has about 8,000 followers.

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Yet at the time of writing this article, the party only counts 12 candidates.

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A staggering ratio of one candidate for every 1,500 followers.

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But nothing surprising here.

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This is just one more project in a long list of original and impactful initiatives that

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fail to pull vegans away from the orbit of social media.

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In the Netflix documentary The Social Dilemma, the phrase If you're not paying for the product,

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you are the product is heard multiple times.

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At the end, it is important to remind ourselves that however inspiring, necessary and powerful

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vegan content can be, from a business perspective, it will never amount to being more than a

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lure for consumers whose private data is exploited by big corporations.

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Putting aside all societal debates, any individual should clearly see their interest in taking

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a wise distance from greedy platforms which have no regard for mental health or privacy.

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.