Social media’s struggle with self-censorship

  • 📰 TheEconomist
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 86 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 38%
  • Publisher: 92%

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News,United States Headlines

America's fractious election campaign has shown that social networks urgently need to tie themselves to a clear set of rules regarding free speech

). This week Facebook announced that it had hired more content-reviewers fluent in Swahili, Amharic, Zulu, Somali, Oromo and Hausa, ahead of African elections. ItsThe room where it happens

Where both camps agree is in their unease that it is falling to social networks to decide what speech is acceptable. As private companies they can set their own rules about what to publish . But they have come to play a big role in public life. Mr Zuckerberg himself compares Facebook to a “town square”.

In America the government is prevented from meddling too much with online speech by the First Amendment. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act gives online platforms further protection, exempting them from liability for the content they publish. But carve-outs to this exemption are growing. Firms cannot avoid responsibility for copyright infringements, posts that break federal criminal law, or which enable sex trafficking.

“Authoritarian governments are taking cues from the loose regulatory talk among democracies,” writes David Kaye, a formerspecial rapporteur on free expression. Last year Singapore passed what it described as an anti-fake-news law, banning the online publication of lies that could harm the public interest. Thailand has enforced itslaws online, in August ordering Facebook to block a critical group called Royalist Marketplace, which with more than 1m members was one of the largest on the platform.

Another idea gaining momentum is that firms should make their data available for audit just as listed companies must open up their accounts. Their internal processes could also be more transparent. At Facebook there is an odd tension between its earnest approach to policymaking, with fortnightly “mini-legislative sessions”, and the fact that every month Mr Zuckerberg personally takes a handful of the hardest decisions on content moderation.

 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Free speech and rules don’t seem a bit oxymoronic in the same sentence?

Beyond self censorship, platforms need to address the growing trend of defense attorneys seeking access to social media platforms of litigants. Just because someone has a social media account, doesn’t mean they are a “public persona” & that their personal content is up for grabs.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 6. in US

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

How to deal with free speech on social mediaTech firms’ attempts to sterilise the social-media cesspool have given unelected executives the role of setting the boundaries of free speech Case 1 - Wikipedia treatment of cardano! Centralized conflict of interest by Wikipedia executives that impacts a credible cryptocurrency community. It's ridiculous that Google is being dealt with by the DOJ rather than the congress. Congress should be passing consumer protection laws concerning the internet. The DOJ is trying to enforce an old law that did not anticipate big tech companies and their powerful oligopoly.
Source: TheEconomist - 🏆 6. / 92 Read more »

US stocks rise as stimulus hopes remain, social media shinesStocks are moving between small gains and losses on Wall Street as traders wait to see if Washington can pull off a last-ditch attempt for more economic aid before the election. Netflix fell after reporting a subscriber growth slump while Snap is soaring. Nope, we're fucked. This is on the failed obama admin. While president trump has made great progress , it is times like this when we are reminded just how big of a mess obama left the economy
Source: AP - 🏆 728. / 51 Read more »

Kris Jenner blames social media for killing off Kardashians' hit reality showAfter launching the reality TV show in 2007, the family shot to fame after a whopping 18 seasons of the show on E! network
Source: Mirror Celeb - 🏆 476. / 51 Read more »

Stocks rise as stimulus hopes remain, social media shinesStocks are pushing higher on Wall Street Wednesday as negotiations continue in Washington on more aid for the economy, though prospects remain cloudy that anything can happen soon. Just so happy Trump kept us safe from foreign wars ) A joke if this uptick were not a fraud . Every partially “ good news “ Trumpski tweet / report automatically get the rise . When it is proved to be a scam , a lie - no backtracking occurs. The 1-10% are laughing all the way . And hiding their- FREE Money . “ Capitalism “. Haha
Source: USATODAY - 🏆 100. / 63 Read more »

Meghan Markle, Prince Decry 'Crisis Of Hate' In Social Media'This is a global crisis,' the Duke of Sussex said Tuesday. 'A global crisis of hate, a global crisis of misinformation and a global health crisis.' 🙄
Source: HuffPostWomen - 🏆 27. / 68 Read more »

Voters distrust Twitter more than Facebook, think social media has made world a worse placeAn exclusive Newsweek poll has found that registered voters in the U.S. distrust social media platforms, with TikTok's rating the lowest of the seven platforms listed. “Older voters” The same ones that follow news organizations only to post “fakenews memes” to every story rather than provide facts to counter them. The same ones that believe in QAnon and care if Biden’s son has a Chinese bank account but not about TrumpChinaBankAccount Yeah, and if we want to express our objections we have to use the platforms we complain about. People distrust and yet here we are....
Source: Newsweek - 🏆 468. / 52 Read more »