Social media: Everyone’s sharing, no one is taking responsibility
Political correctness is not for liberals only.
That immortal truth returned to center stageWednesday as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, FacebookCEO Mark Zuckerberg and AlphabetCEO Sundar Pichai testified before the Senate Commerce Committee.
The conflict between theworld views of Big Tech and Congresswas well illustrated by a vigorous exchange between Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Twitter’s Dorsey, whose social media platform has in manyways defined the presidency of Donald Trump.
“Is Twitter a publisher?” asked Cruz, sounding like hewas in full future-Republican-presidential-candidate mode.
“No, we are not,” said Dorsey, whose long pandemic beard made him look like a tryout for “Duck Dynasty.” “We distribute information.”
“So, what is a publisher?” Cruz pressed on.
“An entity that is publishing under editorial guidelines and decision.”
In otherwords, those who see Twitter as a provider of editorial content to consumers may see it as a publisher. But to Twitter, social networks merely provide a platform through which content creators can reach their audiences.
That conflict lies at the heart of both parties’ interest in lastweek’s hearings: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, enacted in 1996 when search engines and social networkswere very young.
As Cruz pointed out, that act defines an information content provider as any person or entity that is “responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information provided through the internet or any other interactive computer service.”
In writing the law, Congress wisely decided to intrude as little as possible on the new bloomingworld of internet communication and commerce and revisit the issue later. So far, Section 230 has granted more immunity protection to social media companies than to any other medium.
That’s an excellent reason for the Big Tech giants to showup when they’re summoned to Capitol Hill. That’sOK. Companies with so much impact need to be held accountable.
But unfortunately in this hearing, like earlier ones, the galaxy of serious questions being raised in society about the tech industries’ vast power and influence kept getting elbowed aside by allegations of liberal bias and censorship of conservative views.
Four years ago, itwas Democrats who came in to Big Tech hearings fired up by Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails and intrusions by Russian trolls of her election campaign. This time Republicanswere triggered by Facebook and Twitter interfering with tweets that spread theNewYork Post’s questionableHunter Biden scoop in October.
Cruz and other conservativeswere furious that the story about a cache of documents allegedly found on a laptop belonging to candidate Joe Biden’s son Hunterwas not picked up by mainstream media outside of FoxNews and other conservative outlets.
But journalistically, the story raised more questions than it answered with its speculations about a possible contact between foreign influences and Joe Biden himself.
The storywas so questionable, the rivalNewYork Times reported, that the article’s writers asked to have their names removed fromthe byline.
But in today’sworld of dueling political realities, helped along by new media and “alternative facts,” stories take on a life of their own in alternative communities.
Judging by the polls, there’s little evidence that the Biden fuss had a measurable impact on public opinion amid the pandemic, the national racial reckoning and other timely issues.
And the social networks have been making various attempts at reform, including tagging some ofTrump’s tweets with fact-checking tags— a move that infuriates him.
The presidentwould rather limit us to his alternative facts. Sowould every politician, I’m sure. But that’swhywe Americans revere press freedom, even as each political side complains about the content provided by the other.
Of course, Cruz and other partisans complain that Republicans and conservatives can’t get an even break. But so do liberals and Democrats.
Angelo Carusone, president and CEO of the liberalMediaMatters for America, argues that conservative content has been not only plentiful but more often engaged by users, according to his organization’s studies.
I’m not surprised. Conservative movement fervor thrives on the internet, making celebrities out of the most outraged voices on both political sides — and tribes.
But the issues of fact-checking, balance and clearing out conspiracy theories ultimately have to rest with the consumer. Government oversight is still important, but for news consumers, “Buyer beware” is still the most valuable motto to remember.