How to rein in social media
There’ didn t comes need structures a time for to any discourage collective lying, human cheating, endeavour when it is clear rules are needed. If we selfishness or outright criminality we’d be in utopia. But we’re not. We are at such a pivotal moment in the brief history of social media, when it has become imperative to create and enforce more rules. The big breaking point was the suspension of Donald Trump from Facebook and Twitter in January for sharing messages about the Capitol protesters, rioters, being “very special” and that people should “remember this day forever”.
A Facebook-appointed independent oversight board said last week that the social media giant was right to suspend Trump for “maintaining an unfounded narrative of electoral fraud and persistent calls to action”, which created “an environment where a serious risk of violence was possible”. This breaking point was a danger zone that Facebook and other social media firms have long been approaching yet avoiding. Social media has become a magnet for bullying, misinformation, attention addiction and loss of civility, and provided entrées to discrimination and violence in politics and beyond. Congress and the federal courts must get serious about regulating social media behemoths, starting with amending the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which gives internet groups legal immunity for any consequences from the content posted on their sites. The risk of losing big money always tends to make corporate behaviour more responsible.
The oversight board highlighted the group’s arrogance in refusing to provide information on how the Trump decision was made and whether financial or political considerations came into play. In the end it punted back to Facebook the decision to re-examine Trump’s suspension and decide if the ban is permanent. We can argue about what the rules should be and how to flag or delete uncorrected lies. There can be debates on how many strikes should result in temporary and then permanent account suspension. This isn’t easy. /Long Island, May 5
Newsday