When I started Hedge Witch Botanicals in 2018, living in a deeply conservative and rural community, Instagram provided a means to connect with both potential customers and fellow witchy folks. It has been an imperfect medium, but through it I’ve shared glimpses into my working process, my spiritual practice, my professional successes and struggles. Sure, I’ve been harassed (I have the audacity to be a woman with opinions in a public forum, gasp!), but I’ve also connected with some really wonderful people— I’ve met people online that have become cherished friends IRL.
Over time I have struggled with the pressures to “produce content”— you’ve got to fead the beast!— and seen my engagement drop, drop, drop, so much so that I have doubted the value of my work. I’ve followed as the social media savants share tips about how to grow your audience, convert clicks to sales, optimize your post times, blah blah blah, but honestly, as a solopreneur with limited time, I don’t see the return on my investment. And no wonder— these platforms are designed to make money for shareholders, not for the average small business owner.
Then came Meta’s recent announcement that it is going to openly promote fascism rescind their already-flimsy protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, while also ending their DEI initiatives and fact-checking programs.
We can certainly expect a rise in hate speech and disinformation, and in response, GLAAD acknowledged the incredible potential to harm users: “Meta and Mark Zuckerberg are now not only permitting and encouraging, but engaging in anti-LGBTQ hate speech … Meta is now an anti-LGBTQ company.”
The incredible Lachrista Greco (a former Tending the Hedge magic-maker!) recently shared an excerpt from her forthcoming book, The Guerrilla Feminist: A Search For Belonging Online & Offline, in which she describes the many, many pitfalls of social media’s current iteration. I highly recommend reading the entire piece (available here), but a particular passage stood out for me:
When we hear talk of “the algorithm,” it’s often in a way that is distanced, sterile, and ghost-like. The way we discuss it only benefits social media platforms. They want us to think it’s “computer error” if anything should go awry. They want us to think it’s not on them. The problem though, like Dr. Noble said, is that real humans are behind these algorithms; real humans with bigoted views get to decide what is seen by a majority of users. … Dr. Noble writes: “Many people say to me, ‘But tech companies don’t mean to be racist; that’s not their intent.’ Intent is not particularly important. Outcomes and results are important.”
(Reading Greco’s thoughtful prose, I couldn’t help but think of the Greek myth of Cassandra. The daughter of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy, she was granted the gift of prophecy by the god Apollo. When she denied Apollo’s advances, he cursed her so that no one would believe her accurate predictions.)
As a queer woman, as a human who gives a fuck, I cannot continue to support these platforms, and I will discontinue using IG, Facebook, and Threads. Am I anxious about negatively impacting my business? Of course I am. But I don’t want to continue giving of myself to corporations who would harm me and those I care about.
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…and if you’re a fellow small business owner, drop a link to your own website or mailing list in the comments. Sharing is caring, as they say!
This feels like an imperfect solution, and my stance may change as the situation evolves, but for now I can only ask, why spend even a moment more lingering in this hellscape?
🖤 Kate
P.S. I neglected to mention, you can still find me on Bluesky (@hedgewitchb.bsky.social) and Substack (@hedgewitchbotanicals)!
