Facebook is weakening democracy
had two fundamentally opposed ideals in institutionalism versus free speech. On the one hand, we have created institutional structures such as the government, the political system, and the radically capitalistic economic regime to build an intellectually free and open society. Over time, though, institutions may grow to enjoy excess power and germinate overbearing economic and social exploitation; we require individual intellectual independence — through freedom of expression — to push back on the undue concentration of power.
Indeed, free speech has always been applied to challenge governments and industries. But the commercial regime underlying the likes of Facebook, Youtube and Twitter has turned this checks-and-balance system internalised within functioning democracies upside down. Before the modern media age, citizens were naturally forced to be accountable for their speech — whether in print media, television, or public protest formats. Without the courage to publicly back your words, you couldn’t say them. Now, though, a new kind of economic logic has emerged that favours the algorithmic maximisation of consumer-media engagement at the expense of everything else. Such effects often favour the virality of extreme content because of its propensity to engage the mind. Thus, while Zuckerberg and his company hold to an even-harder free speech line, we must acknowledge that the norms of free speech themselves have been revolutionised by Facebook itself.
Inevitably, Trump’s clash with Twitter will place more pressure on policymakers, particularly members of Congress, to change the way content regulation works. Trump’s actions clarify that we need to set standards on speech issues so that our democratic norms do not topple. The light at the end of the tunnel is emerging in the effort to reconstruct Section 230. This is a growing sentiment, including with both the President and his Democratic opponent Joe Biden. As this discussion progresses, Facebook will increasingly be seen as a media entity as opposed to agnostic global platforms — just fruits, perhaps, for a company that ranks and orders users’ online news and social feeds to determine what they see.
When seen in this light, Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and his company, who have been far more proactive and progressive than Zuckerberg and Facebook, should receive high praise. Dorsey is telegraphing the actions of policymakers, projecting that there are elements of the democratic process that we should do our best to protect. This explains several of his and Twitter’s recent actions — the ban on political advertising, the statements against the marketised micro-targeting of communities with political communications, and this bevy of battles with President Trump included.
We can only hope, in our desire to preserve the structure of democracy as best as possible, that the other dominant digital platforms will follow suit.