Social media giants should take responsibility

In its 13-plus years, Facebook has become the modern exemplar of unbridled growth with an unimaginably popular — and powerful— product, used regularly by one-quarter of the world’s population.

Twitter, at 11-years-old, is smaller, but also has immense power to influence users. Now the implications of that power are becoming clearer, and 2018 should be the year when Facebook and Twitter turn their considerable strengths— innovation, psychological savvy and tech brilliance — to limiting the harm wrought by their creations.

The social-media masters sold their platforms as a great democratizing force, a neutral platform allowing ordinary people around the world to make their voices heard and join with like-minded others. But they also designed them to be incredibly addictive and to reward sharing of information. Human nature being what it is, people with darker motives have learned to harness their power for decidedly undemocratic aims.

In the past year, we’ve learned that Facebook and Twitter were tools used by political ideologues, both left and right, to spread false and inflammatory claims during the 2016 U.S. election cycle . ... ... Obviously, it has worked. ... Hoaxes and lies have been a part of society forever, but the power and speed of social media amplify the damage immeasurably.

And Facebook goes beyond simply providing the platform. A recent Bloomberg News article described a little-known “global government and politics” team within the company that contracts with governments and political candidates globally, helping them use Facebook more effectively to spread their messages and make money.

Clients have included the campaign of Philippines strongman Rodrigo Duterte and the anti-immigrant German party Alternative for Germany.

Facebook can’t do that kind of work and claim no responsibility for political outcomes.

Here at home, Americans need to become smarter about evaluating what they see on Facebook and Twitter. From now on, no one should graduate from an American high school without a social-studies class dealing with the effects and dangers of social media.

But sorting through garbage shouldn’t fall entirely to consumers. The geniuses who created the social-media juggernaut and have deployed every possible trick to entice users should take responsibility for its abuse.

Read the full editorial from the Columbus Dispatch at bit.ly/2lHLQVZ