Facebook policing itself is a bad idea

Re: “What will Facebook do as the country’s top lobbying force?” (Editorial, Page A12, April 4):

I disagree that Facebook should be the main decisionmaker in how to regulate the misinformation and hate speech that proliferates across its platform. Businesses are already given too much power to pursue their own interests through lobbying at the expense of the general public.

While I agree that misinformation and hate speech need to be addressed as a way of maintaining peace and improving the quality of discourse for Facebook users, that role should be given to the government and Facebook should follow their laws and decisions around the issue.

I think the government should alter Section 230 to make it so businesses have to mark false information on posts and flag hate speech so that it is visible to all users. That way, people can still practice free speech and will also be advised when posts disregard facts.