Are You Truly Free? The Case for Banning Psychological Media Manipulation

The other day, I opened YouTube and started my daily venture into what I call: “the algorithm”. It knew what I liked to eat, what games I play. It knew what songs I listen to, what keeps me up at 2 am. In a sudden horrifying thought, I realised that this algorithm knows me better than my parents. It isn’t just an app; it is a monster that can predict my every move.

Our people are currently fighting. We are fighting against persecution. Against prejudice. Against bias of society and government. Yet the values we are fighting for, is it truly what we want? Or is it just another manipulated illusion that we never realised existed? Media is shaping our life, and this is our reality.

If everything you see online is shaped for you, are you truly yourself? Are you truly free?

Now comes the question: should governments ban psychological manipulation and personalisation of media companies and political propaganda?

It is neither righteous nor morally ethical for any individual or group to benefit and profit from engineering the psychology of other people. It is especially not ethical when the target is innocent children and teenagers, the future generation of our world. Often, we cannot just merely “choose” to stop being online. The algorithm creates addiction, tailoring all the videos to keep trapped in it, fabricating a sense of urgency, notifications always pulling us back into the trap. Investigation conducted by the US think tank Commonsense Media shows that one in two of adolescents in Australia have signs of addiction to social media, and that the average screen time for teens reaches a shocking 8.5 hours daily. Our addiction to social media means the people behind these deceiving algorithms receive more advertising revenue, a key marketing strategy to sell their products and services.

Furthermore, nothing you see online is completely truthful. The digital world masks you under layers and layers of deception, unable to see reality. There are hidden hands behind everything shown to you, that want to utilise your opinions and view for their own benefits. In 2020, the Oxford Internet Institute conducted survey research in 81 different countries. Every single one of these countries used organised social media campaigns for propaganda and manipulation. I repeat. Every. Single. One.

The report also states that countries have spent more than 60 million dollars to create false impressions of trending political views and topics. More than 10 million US dollars have been spent on social media advertising by political parties. Within two years, major media sites like Facebook and Instagram have removed more than 317 thousand false accounts made by “cyber troops” - actors hired to spread misinformation.

In the span of one year, there was a 15% increase in the number of countries using such tactics. One year. This proves that our “online freedom” is merely an illusion. Currently in 2026, such widespread propaganda and media manipulation exists in virtually every country. It’s not exactly the algorithm that is directly influencing us, but how the algorithm can easily be controlled just to deceive and manipulate us.

Another serious concern is the imbalance of power. Many of us are happy with the “equality” that we have reached in society. In human rights, in gender rights, in cultural rights. We feel like we are equal. Yet, few people have spotted just how powerless we are online. The lack of power, knowledge, and transparency is absolutely astounding. They know everything about us, and they use what they know to expose us to exactly what we like. People may argue that they are perfectly happy with seeing what they like, that they are happy getting personalised videos and information fed to them, happy to be stuck in an echo chamber. Well, I think I may also be happy, but it’ll be when these videos were shown to me with a good heart, good intentions, when they don’t create addiction and harm my personal wellbeing.

Media manipulation is trending in politics; people are using it as a tool when it shouldn’t even be existing. Now, I feel that my knowledge is entirely what the algorithm feeds me, my behaviour is the product of it, and my bias is what people online tell me to believe.

It’s not even just a video anymore, it’s a meme, a comment, a widespread trend that is stuck up in our faces, yet invisible to us. We’re treated like lab rats: born to be manipulated, controlled but not told.

We must speak up! We must stop this one-sided dominance over society. Make the ban of psychological media manipulation a law. Turn this nonsense into history, not our future.