You should need a licence to post on Facebook

HERE’S a radical idea – Facebook shouldn’t allow people to make comments on the platform until they’ve passed a licence test.

The social media giant has recently taken away the indicators which show how many likes different posts have received and now it’s time to take the next step.

I’m proposing a system of L and P plates and, just like having your Driver Licence, you can be fined, receive demerit points or have your licence suspended if you contravene the rules by lying, providing incorrect information, bullying or intimidating, use obscene language, and so on.

In other words – now the world’s residents have the capacity to be just like journalists and have their writings published, so too should Facebook ensure they follow by the rules of accuracy, defamation and the like.

For all its admirable qualities such as reconnecting friends and family and disseminating global news at a frantic pace, Facebook also creates plenty of angst and disguises social trends because the silent majority in many cases won’t air their opinions for fear that those on the extremes will harass them unmercifully in their self-proclaimed righteousness.

And the platform really isn’t any sort of accurate social barometer in many cases, it just reflects what cranky, one-issue people think about specific things. These extremists often private message their networks of “friends” to share their posts to make it look like the world is outraged about a third order issue, when in fact most people simply don’t care.

Journalists working with professional media organisations (not all, but mostly) at least have guidelines, checks and balances; a stepped editorial process where anything written must go through a few sets of eyes before it makes it onto the page.

Now, with Facebook, that’s all gone out the window.

A case in point from this week is where I was attacked on Facebook about an article I wrote in the paper.

I wasn’t contacted for comment by this person – that’s what a journalist or a seeker of the truth would do, but this wasn’t about the truth – it’s about a belief system where individuals want to believe what they want to believe, and the truth be damned.

I have no idea how many people read and shared that post, but by authentic documentation, I was quickly able to prove that the claims were untrue.

A major problem is that it was posted and shared online for days before it was brought to my attention, so who knows how many people now believe I’m a liar, despite me being correct and being able to prove my claim without doubt.

This drama isn’t isolated to me, it’s a systemic problem with social media – and Facebook in particular.

It used to be that people who had a say in the public arena were journalists, or those being interviewed (and potentially incorrectly edited by journalists or producers), or opinion writers, or those who were lucky enough to get published as a letter to the editor.

Nowadays it’s a free for all, and while that democratisation of views is so important in so many ways, the vast majority of people on social media have received no training, and there are few regulatory forces to prevent them from saying whatever they want, no matter how untrue, malicious or obscene it may be.

At its worst, Facebook lies, vilification and bullying have ended in suicide and attempts at self-harm, so this is an issue the world’s policy makers really need to act on. We can’t have kids and young people in particular wanting to take their own lives just because a popular bully gets a few mates to gang up on them – that in itself is obscene.

There is a weird dynamic when it comes to posting online, where restraint doesn’t seem to enter the equation.

There are reportedly instances where career criminals, who wouldn’t dare hold conversations in their cars and homes because they’re convinced they’re being bugged by the cops, jump on Facebook and whack their activities up online – obviously many humans aren’t wired correctly when it comes to showing restraint in this area.

I’ve been the subject of plenty of adverse comments online in the past week and, incredibly, a huge majority of those comments showed that the people making them hadn’t read past the headline, and didn’t have even a basic understanding of what I’d said.

The consolation prize is that none of this really matters in the grand scheme of things – despite being at the forefront of media issues, the greatest reaction by far to anything I was involved with on Facebook this past week or so was a 20-second clip of me starting the 308 Holden V8 motor in an old H.J. Holden Premier station wagon I’ve got – it was the first time the motor had been run since 1991.

That shows what’s really important to people.

And when I get the H.J. wagon on the road, I have to make sure to exercise normal restraint and not speed or use my phone while driving – that’s a danger to other humans, and besides, I don’t want to get fined or lose my licence.

z Note: John Ryan is also a councillor on Dubbo Regional Council, and is also employed part-time by Landcare. He writes here in his capacity as a journalist.