Social media under attack or is that fake news too?
IF there is one thing in this world that strikes terror into the global elite at the capitalist congress in Davos, it’s social media. The reason is they can buy almost everything and everyone but their cash is powerless to prevent the public knowing what they and their businesses get up to.
At the billionaires’ gathering in Switzerland, Theresa May yesterday joined the chorus of calls for a clampdown on Facebook and other platforms over their lack of social responsibility.
Imagine a woman who refuses to fund her health service having the nerve to even mention those words.
The British Prime Minister went so far as to call on investors to boycott social media companies that do not delete and censor “extremist” views.
Funny how right-wing politicians can call for a ban on investment in social media firms yet would welcome, and even promote, investment in corporations which manufacture bombs and armaments.
If Mrs May is so concerned about things extreme she might consider the Oxfam report this week which shows the richest 1% gained 82% of wealth created last year, while the poorest half of humanity got nothing.
High in the Swiss Alps, the elite few who control most of the world’s wealth pretend to be fretting about inequality as they sip vintage wines and plan new ways to avoid paying tax.
Last year they held a debate to discuss inequality and the plight of the dispossessed which anyone could join as long as they had a ticket which cost just €502,000 a pop.
No doubt the PM’S speech went down well with the billionaires who until the advent of social media platforms would accumulate obscene wealth in plain (legally or illegally) sight and the public would be none the wiser.
The media in this country knows only two well the consequences of trying to report on the rich and powerful, as the end result can be a massive payout because of this country’s ludicrous libel laws. In the late 18th and 19th centuries in Vogue and Spencer these islands it was not uncommon for the political establishment to buy off the owners of newspapers and magazines who made little or no profit from their publications.
That route will not work now as the likes of Facebook and Google are in a better financial position than many sovereign states so they raise the spectre of these platforms being used by extremists and paedophiles. This is partly true but who determines what content is extreme?
Western governments backing one Islamic jihadi group which suits their political ends while trying to muzzle another which doesn’t?
In this country the sheer ignorance of our politicians when it comes to social media is breathtaking.
But the very same social network that struck fear into the rich and powerful now runs the risk of actually undermining the little democracy that exists.
Facebook might have set out to connect friends and family and share photos but it ended up showing real-life beheadings? It is also credited with giving the world President Trump.
Thanks to fake news, ordinary, rational Americans actually believed a billionaire tax avoider, who trampled on the rights of workers and small business people, was on their side.
They were even led to believe the Pope was backing Trump.
Many millions of people around the world now depend on Facebook for their news and much of it is untrue or even generated by the Russian government.
The internet giant has now admitted it is damaging democracy with what it describes as its “toxic discourse”.
Facebook is now trying to eradicate false news by asking users to vote on news sources they believe to be trustworthy... the same users who have been spreading false news.
It is being claimed this could be a make or break situation but it could also have serious consequences for Facebook which despite its size could easily go the way of Myspace and Bebo.
It was somewhat ironic Mrs May should attack social media from Davos as it was once the HQ of the Swiss Nazi Party and a centre for Hitler’s fascists.
We all know how adept they were at spreading fake news. You could even say they invented it. Theresa May