[ad_1]
WASHINGTON: For Facebook and Twitter, social media companies that spent much of the past week limiting the spread of election-related misinformation and misinformation by US President Donald Trump, his acolytes and even some Democrats, the big game is over.
But with the great drama surrounding last week’s US presidential election largely subsided, Monday morning’s quarterback is just getting started.
And with the next occupant of the White House outspoken about cracking down on social media companies specifically because he doesn’t believe they will do enough to stop the spread of disinformation, reviewing the electoral performance of each company could carry significant weight. .
Both Facebook and Twitter entered Election Day under enormous pressure from both parties, but in the end it was Trump and other Republicans whose posts were most frequently tagged as containing misleading or false information about the vote count and integrity of the vote. choice.
Disinformation experts are skeptical that Twitter and Facebook tagging did much to quell the spread of Trump’s claims and conspiracy theories that were spread using hashtags such as #SharpieGate and #StopTheSteal throughout the week.
“We really don’t know what the impacts of the labels are,” Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor who studies the flow of information online, told reporters during a briefing organized by the Election Integrity Partnership.
“At this point, no matter how fast they act and no matter what labels they put on those messages, they are coming out and landing on a soft audience that is going to be absorbed because it’s telling them what I want to hear,” Starbird added.
People believe what they want
Alex Stamos, a former Facebook security director who now runs Stanford University’s Internet Observatory, said the false narratives born out of #SharpieGate and #StopTheSteal will outlast elections.
“Even after the inauguration, there will be a significant portion of people who believe the elections were stolen, who will use these narratives as the basis for that belief,” Stamos told reporters.
Tech industry representatives defended the companies, arguing that they performed admirably under impossible conditions, as new false claims from Trump emerged throughout the week as vote counts in states like Georgia and Pennsylvania leaned in favor of Biden.
“If you were looking for perfection, then you had unrealistic expectations,” said Carl Szabo, vice president of NetChoice, an industry group that represents Facebook and Twitter.
“I see few complaints that could really be made against social media platforms for how they approached and dealt with this unprecedented scenario,” Szabo said. CQ roll Call. “And I think you will get the same for most Americans.”
Szabo expects companies to continue to receive criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, starting with a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing next Tuesday in which Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook CEO and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, is scheduled. to testify.
“Some legislators will ignore the staggering successes we saw over the past week and instead focus on extreme case errors,” he said.
Section 230 debate
Much of the debate, including how to stop the spread of disinformation, centers on a 1996 law known as Section 230 that protects social media companies from being sued for how they moderate third-party content posted on their sites. For example, Twitter cannot be sued for tagging Trump’s posts, and Facebook cannot be sued for removing a #StopTheSteal group.
Lawmakers from both parties have proposed changes to Section 230 as a way to exert more control over businesses. Two bipartisan Senate proposals gained momentum in the months leading up to the election and could set the stage for a legislative compromise sometime during the next session of Congress.
Silicon Valley is largely opposed to changing Section 230, which is credited with the meteoric rise of the tech industry over the past two decades. But the election results don’t change much when it comes to debating the future of the law: President-elect Joe Biden, like his future predecessor, has said he supports the total repeal of Section 230.
Of course, Trump and Biden arrived at the same position by different paths. Trump’s call to repeal Section 230 stems in large part from his own anger at companies and unfounded claims of widespread anti-conservative bias in the tech industry, while Biden has said they are not sufficiently stopping the spread of disinformation, hate speech and extremist content.
When it comes to revising Section 230, the tech industry is counting on the fact that Republicans and Democrats are approaching the debate from radically different starting points.
But Biden’s call for a full repeal remains a threat, and Szabo said he hopes the next administration will moderate its position on Section 230.
“I hope that an administration focused on the notions of free speech and giving voice to those who do not have it will wholeheartedly and enthusiastically embrace Section 230 and the role it plays in enabling everyday Americans to have a voice.” said. – CQ-Roll Call / Tribune News Service
[ad_2]
