The Platform

the platform

by Anushka Joshi

March 1st, 2139

Look, it’s a terrible thing to happen to anyone.

I’m talking about both. The baby-sitter and the baby.

Both.

Because of course, what happened to her, is- it’s brutal. After all she had been through, already, right?

To be sitting in the park and to have some guy just- approach you, pretending to ask questions and then you know. What happened.

No, I’m not afraid of saying it. I just don’t like to dwell on these gruesome, exploitative details, okay? Isn’t that your job?

No, I’m not insulting your legal integrity. Jesus.

But also, I’m saying, think about this baby.

He’s what, four years old? Five years old?

This is basically his first memory. It’s a nice day, he’s just you know, relaxing in the park with this woman who’s basically like a mom to him right maybe more so than his own mom, right, and then suddenly he’s, you know. He sees her-

Beheaded yeah.

And you know- this is in our country, in our city. Like- this does not happen. It doesn’t.

And- if that’s not bad enough this thing, this horrific act, is broadcast- to first like all her followers because her phone camera was on, then to you know basically.

The entire world.

And look- is it our fault that her camera was on? No. Is it unfortunate? Yes.

But is any of this the fault of our company?

One hundred percent not.

Is it our fault that this young woman, who we are not blaming at all by the way, but like so many young women, she had a compulsion, an addiction, if you will, to post so much about her life online? And that this included the child she was babysitting, who was clearly- clearly- too young to give consent?

And you know his mom- she had explicitly told this young woman in question not to film her son, or even take pictures of him.

Maybe something was lost in translation, because this young woman, as we know, was not a native English speaker, and again, I am not blaming her for what was ultimately a terrible tragedy.

These are just very, very unfortunate circumstances.

In many, many ways you have a recipe for disaster that has nothing to do with our company.

You have a young woman who is a refugee from a war zone.

Her mental state is not what it should be.

I would argue that our company helped, rather than harmed her.

I mean women in her country were barely allowed to have cell phones.

And then she is relocated here, to America, to Manhattan, of all places, and she starts using this incredible platform.

She doesn’t speak English great, she’s struggling in school, she’s been held back two years- these things take a toll on her self-esteem.

I would argue that our company’s platform was the only place in the world where she could really have any control over her life.

Post funny videos, and reels, and photos of her looking her best. Put filters on herself, imagine herself as a different person. Connect to people, make friends, stay in touch with her family. There’s a reason she was on this platform for however many hours a day she was on it. It’s because it was helping her.

The addiction part is not on us.

I mean are you going to sue a chocolate factory next because someone ended up getting murdered because of chocolate, because they had chocolate at the wrong place at the wrong time or too much of it or whatever?

And this, I would argue, isn’t chocolate because it’s essentially good for people.

It’s like having too much kale. Are you going to sue someone for that? No, because it’s kale, because no one made it and so you can’t sue anyone.

Our company believes there is an opportunistic way of thinking that has led to this lawsuit. We’re not naming names, we’re not being accusatory but we do sense that this is coming from a place of opportunism rather than a place of seeking justice.

So anyway you have this young woman. From what I understand she was already on some kind of pro-bono therapy program? No this is not gaslighting but from what our documents show she had a PTSD diagnosis from the war.

So you have her, and then you have this well-meaning liberal New York family. Again I am not trying to cast aspersions on their sense of- of duty, charity- whatever in taking in this young woman as their babysitter.

But for me, personally, I mean, I myself have a six year old. Would I trust a young woman who is clearly struggling with her mental health, after everything that has happened in her country- and you know if you really want to sue someone please sue the US government for you know, invading her country, which was why she was here which is why this extremely sad unfortunate thing took place.

So my take on this is, you know donate to charity, give old clothes, you know do whatever you find rewarding.

But letting someone from a VERY different culture, with a VERY fragmented state of mind, come into your house and take care of your child is.

It’s well-meaning liberal thinking at its most fatuous, unfortunately.

So you have this young woman, in high school still, taking this five year old to the park, documenting whatever harmless shenanigans they’re doing, it’s all wholesome, it’s all good, she’s doing it for the likes, which I mean, what young person doesn’t want that, like me at my age, I like to get likes right- when all of sudden this man comes in and- pretends to ask her something about where the lake is and- you know. Kills her.

 And leaves.

There’s no one there.

Which again, I’m not blaming this young lady but. A New Yorker would know to avoid deserted areas of the park right, at a certain time in the evening.

So it’s just the baby and her, and. All her followers.

And then you have the child’s reaction, which is when things become very complicated, right? Again, hardly his fault.

He’s crying at first.

And then he starts thinking it’s all a game. And- you’ve seen the video so I hardly need to repeat- yes, he starts playing.

With the head, yes.

For- about eighty seconds, is all.

But. Those are the kind of things, unfortunately. That go viral.

Could have gone viral on another platform too.

Unfortunately, yes, it’s ours.

At some point, as you all know, the guy on the bicycle found this- horrific scene. Called the police. Became aware, as you know, of the camera recording everything, turned it off, as any good person would.

And as you know that guy, Jeff, he’s a hero now right. I mean. Look at how differently this platform has affected him, right?

He was- you know- at a pretty low point in his life when he found this- this terrible, terrible situation. He felt alone, he felt unloved. He felt purposeless and not needed. He has talked, at times, of experiencing suicidal ideation prior to this event.

And then after this event- which for some other person might have been a deeply, deeply traumatic thing to witness, as it was for the child- after the event he received just- an outpouring, an outpouring of love and, and respect and just. He can talk about this with you.

Yes he does work for us now.

Yes as a virtual spiritual counsellor. That’s right. No I don’t think there’s a conflict of interest in bringing him in. This is his story too.

But what I’m saying is that even the most terrible tragedy has a- another side to it. And in his story, the Platform played a very positive role.

Like, his heroism, his bravery upon seeing this nightmarish scene- it was all witnessed. By all these people, because the camera was on.

And even him breaking down. You know. His wife, who as you know, she was estranged from him at that point, and he’s very open about this so I can say this- she reached out to him. When she saw that he was capable of feeling so- so  deeply  about this stranger who- you know someone else might have been repulsed or, or horror-struck by this sight, but he was just- there was only sadness and urgency and empathy in his response.

And then his kindness in comforting the kid, his phoning the police right away, covering the body with the picnic blanket. Turning off the camera, using the phone to call the kid’s parents.

So okay, now we get to the point in question right.

This kid, unfortunately, grows up with this video of him floating around.

Should it have been taken down earlier? Again, The Platform was very new at the time. We were working on our infrastructure, we were a small team, we were doing our best and some things slip under the radar sometimes. The accusation that we somehow monetized this tragedy is- it’s deeply, deeply insulting. It’s hurtful.

And this young woman- you know she comes from a country where- I mean, again I’m not generalizing but tomorrow from the way we’ve been blamed for her death- someone could just- throw a bomb on our building.

So if you want to talk about culpability, really- it goes both ways.

So, right, this kid grows up with this viral video of him floating around- and might I add that The Platform, we took it down in a matter of what- weeks? This was what- twenty years ago, so I’m sorry if I don’t- right months, weeks. Two months is eight weeks, tomato tomahto, and I’m not being insensitive here I’m just trying to tell you that no one is trying to you know say it was weeks instead of months I’m just. Counting differently.

Okay so we take it down but of course it’s still out there.

Do we get more traction, as a service, after this video? Yes. Was that what we would have wanted? Absolutely not.

Right so he’s bullied- relentlessly, I might add- his parents are extremely supportive of him, they spend I don’t know how much on therapy, on medication, but clearly, this kid grows up with this thing hanging over him. It’s not an easy thing to grow up with.

People were laughing at that video. Very sick people but they were laughing at it. Is this our fault? No.

At one point in the video he loses control of his bowels, right. Because by the time Jeff stopped, this kid had realized that the babysitter she was- you know she was dead. He’d realized it wasn’t a prank.

And I have kids, you have kids. We know how cruel teenagers can be about that stuff.

I mean at some point they go to college and become you know educated about not being complete assholes right but we all remember middle school.

So this kid, unfortunately he’s also- and you know this- he’s also targeted by older men right. Like older men online who somehow- they’re what, like turned on by this very sick thing? I mean is that our fault? 

Did some of them contact him through The Platform? Could we have been better at flagging those messages? Absolutely.

But was it really our fault?

I mean before The Platform all kinds of weird dudes reached out to kids over like Facebook or MySpace or whatever and before that it was I don’t know like school playgrounds- are you going to ban school playgrounds? Isn’t that a platform?

Are you going to sue the mulch and the swing set?

I’m not being facetious I’m asking you to break this down logically, right?

I would argue- I would say that after all he’s been through, maybe the parents should have said you know what, we don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be on The Platform. I realize they were traumatized too but I think in the end it comes down to parental responsibility right I mean we’re not living in like North Korea, right like we can’t censor what kids have access to, right?

But again liberal well-meaning New York family wants to give their kid “freedom”- they know every single person now is on The Platform, they hope it’ll be a way for him to connect maybe with people because look, the kid is lonely. Basically shunned at school, even the neighborhood moms want their kids to stay away from him, because look the video is- it's frankly pretty disturbing and maybe creepy even though obviously it's like not his fault. At all. I mean Jesus, he's a kid. Family reunions, obviously, are a fucking nightmare, excuse my language.

Was it a mistake to let him on there? Unfortunately, yes.

Was it OUR mistake? I don’t think I even need to answer that.

They send him to this woo-woo liberal arts rich kids’ college. He’s kind of a misfit there too, even though the entire school is kind of- I mean I’ll put it this way, you walk into that school cafeteria and you see everybody who ever sat alone in their high school cafeteria sitting alone together. Basically, he didn’t have a great time there.

Are you going to sue that school? Yeah, I guessed not.

Okay he drops out, goes back, drops out, goes back, he’s doing drugs, he’s hanging out with these way older, creepy dudes, the kid’s floundering, basically, floating around the city on family money, can’t hold down a job, can barely get out of bed in the morning.

Then, a week ago, he comes to us.

He hears about our program.

Which by the way was instituted because all the flack we were getting from people like you.

People concerned about what happened like twenty years ago, to all those babies and toddlers who grew up you know. Documented by their like parents, or nannies, or babysitters or grandparents or the fucking neighbor I don’t know.

These people have videos of like them running around a pool when they're like two or three but they’re naked or like saying something kind of cute but stupid that they’ve been like relentlessly teased about or whatever the fuck. Sometimes it's weirder shit. Nothing like this obviously but still. And they come to us looking for peace.

All they want is to go back to that moment in time and prevent that shit from being posted.

And usually, look- things go smoothly. They travel back fifteen years ago, twenty years ago. They don’t fuck with the timeline. They’re put on a set timer, they’re closely watched, they’re trained and talked to. In and out, done and dusted.

You talk to the person- nanny, grandma, dad, older sibling- explain, ask them not to post anything, get them to sign an agreement and also a confidentiality contract, leave.

It’s worked. I can’t tell you how many people’s lives have been literally changed. If this had gone another way, this kid, Michael, his life would have been different. No bullying, no drugs, no rapey relationships, no trauma, no nothing.

Did we accept money for this program? Yes. Look time travel- it’s expensive.

Look at all the other companies that are in the process- I mean you can’t punish us just because we’re the first, right?

I am not allowed to disclose the fee at this moment.

“So only rich people are allowed to erase their past?” Wow. I think that’s a very reductive thing to say.

Firstly, we are not in the business of trying to erase anyone’s past, to sanitize anyone who’s done anything wrong, to in any way exonerate someone from their you know. Whatever the fuck.

Our clients are only people who were absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing, right? Who were just living their little baby lives when they were photographed or recorded and then fucking like posted online without their consent to their absolute detriment.

And secondly, I’m gonna push back on what you said about only rich people being able to afford this as if we’re trying to somehow like monetize these tragedies because firstly, we live in a society that is capitalist, okay? And look I’m all for trying another route but those haven’t exactly worked, know what I’m saying? Secondly, rich people- might be hard to believe this with this whole eat the rich discourse- but they have problems too. So I think this kind of dehumanization, this vilification of the rich is. It’s. It’s a problem.

Anyway this kid- this guy I should say now, he comes to us.

Says his whole life has been fucked up because of this one event.

He did pay us, yes. An undisclosed amount.

We didn’t take him at face value. We read out the rules to him. We asked him if he was in the correct frame of mind.

Our employees can’t tell when a guy is coked out of his mind right?

Like they’re not, so they can’t tell. It should be a good thing.

Anyway. You know what happens, and I am not obliged to go over it in detail. I can reiterate the basics if need be. 

So yeah, he goes back to the park, March 1st, twenty years ago.

And totally fucking goes off script.

We do a pat-down yes. Usually.

But in this case, given his traumatic history especially of unwanted physical contact we agreed to not do the pat down.

Yes it was an additional fee. It’s undisclosed okay, I feel like this question- it’s- it’s a very leading question and again it’s frankly kind of insulting.

There are some people who prefer not to have the pre-time travel pat down and yes it does cost an additional fee to forgo it, that is correct. But also, that is our company being cognizant of trauma, you know especially women’s trauma-

Could we do it for free? I mean wouldn't it be just wonderful if we lived in a world where everything was free? I think again you know you’re ignoring the fact that you know we run a company right, not a charity and also this is not like we’re granting an extra privilege to those who can afford it- okay so if you’re saying we’re doing exactly that- I feel like- I just don’t see the point in having a dialogue then.

Yes it was a serrated knife.

In his coat, yes.

So again, I’m not blaming her right. But. Young woman from another country. Doesn’t really get that, you know, when you see a guy walking out of the woods in Central Park at like seven in the evening when it’s eighty degrees out wearing a coat. Something's gotta be off. 

I mean you know in their society when a guy comes up to you and asks you something it’s- from what I hear and not generalizing- it’s you know basically an order. I mean she’s come here from a country where- she’s talked to what maybe like two men in her entire life including her father? I don’t know, you know? All I’m saying is that there was a lack of savvy right, on this young woman’s part, which I mean common sense is very culturally contextualized but also common sense is common sense right?

So yeah he asks her where the lake is.

And then he. You know. He does it.

Self-fulfilling prophecy yeah. I guess that’s one thing we can agree on.

No. Absolutely not. Not facilitated by The Platform.

And yeah. Then he goes into the woods and. Look- it was- it was inevitable right? Suicide, it’s- it’s a very very sad but very common reality in our world.

Yeah, same knife. They found the body like a day- right, two days later.

So look my only statement- I feel like all I can say is that, you know, shortly after this happened we heard that unfortunately the young woman’s family back in her home country, they you know they were a target of like militants or terrorists, right, which is a very again tragic but common issue in our world, in that country specifically.

And so she. You know even if she’d lived she would have. You know not lived a very happy life. Because if you asked me right now, like, Zach, would you rather have to live on knowing that your beautiful wife and lovely son and the rest of your amazing family, they’re just wiped out would you want to live on, or would you want this other option where you’re you know- you face a violent death but it’s brief and it’s just. It’s over with.

I don’t think that’s insensitive at all. I think there are a lot of people like you out there who might be maybe I don’t want to say too sensitive but a lot of times people who are too sensitive think other people are being insensitive. And that creates a polarization.

And about this lawsuit. Look.

I mean the parents in this case- they have my full sympathy right.

They’ve gone through- so much.

And they’ve made a point of suing for what like a dollar? For me it’s not about the money. They don’t need money and god after all they’ve been through I would give them legit any amount of money they wanted right.

But the thing is their stated pursuit is shutting down my life’s work, you know. Started as this dinky little start-up thing and now it’s this- Right. It is what it is.

And that took hard work and effort and time. And sure, were there mistakes? Absolutely.

But they’re saying we're designed to serve the privileged, we’re toxic to young people, we have no checks and balances, all of which.

I mean those things are just very, very hurtful. 

And you know I don’t like getting personal right.

But the mom has said some things about me and I’ll just say. Like.

She could have been in the park that day and none of this would have happened. Okay? 

And like I have- absolutely like nothing against a working mom- like my mom raised me working full-time right. But also, when you have the means- like she wasn’t. She was from what I understand volunteering for like. A left-wing, liberal kind of charity? Right. So.

You know. I mean if you don’t have to. Don’t. Especially to make some kind of point about hiring someone who maybe doesn’t really know how to be safe in a new country, unfortunately.

I mean my wife, she’s. You know she’s usually like a total boss, like fifty hour work week whatever, you know, but right now she’s staying home because honestly I don’t think we would just trust a random stranger with our son.

Like not even someone from here, know what I mean?