President Trump’s Twitter account was blocked just days before the end of his presidency. This precluded him from spreading misinformation and incendiary comments like those that led his followers to attack Congress a couple of weeks earlier. This, however, not the first time social media had been used to spread lies.
In September, Facebook took down a network of accounts backed by Russian operatives intending to promote discontent. Before that, Facebook removed a page backed by American political operatives spreading falsehoods about mail-in voting. In January, Facebook, Apple, Google, YouTube, and other platforms reigned in the accounts of some who fanned the flames leading to the Capitol riot. Realizing their platforms could be used to harm democracy and society, these normally hands-off tech giants had a change in perspective on their role in moderating platform content. Yet this is only the beginning.
The world is becoming more connected, and with that connection comes the increased potential for coordinated catastrophe. People use social media to link formerly disparate groups for both good and bad purposes. Right now, Section 230 of the US Code protects tech giants from liability based on user content. This 1996 law was passed to spur development of the then-nascent internet but has now become eyed for revision. This debate has been growing ever since the 2016 Presidential election, where misinformation may have influence election results in some areas. If companies do not manage content, then more catastrophes will likely lead to platforms becoming regulated infrastructure, as were powergrids in the 1910s; or even nationalized, as were highways in the 1920s.
Societies ultimately need to hold the intentional purveyors of misinformation to some level of accountability. Somewhere on the spectrum between free speech and shouting fire in a crowded theater lies the acceptable range that allows free speech, enables increased connectedness, yet keeps societies safe and stable. Congress has much work ahead to figure out how to do this.
Reference:
Editorial, “This time, Facebook Admits it Has a Problem,” Washington Post, 6 Sep 2020, A24; see also https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/09/03/facebook-political-ads/
Tony Room, Josh Dawsey, “After Twitter Ban, Trump Scrambles for New Platform,” Washington Post, 10 Jan 2021, A15; see also https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/twitter-ban-trump-election-misinformation-research-1234887030/
Title 47, Section 230, US Code; see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230
Photo: Associated Press
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