NY Gov calls social media firms "instruments of evil" + my thoughts
The governor of NY is now calling social media firms "instruments of
evil." In the context of the horrific shootings in Buffalo, this is
tantamount to calling the firms themselves evil for not somehow
preventing the spread of the specific online hate speech that the
shooter claims "radicalized" him.
Unfortunately, such a statement regarding these firms appears to
demonstrate a typical political attempt at simplifying for public
consumption what are incredibly complex issues.
Because the reality is that there is absolutely no consensus in this
country for how to deal with abhorrent speech which is legal under the
First Amendment, and in fact two diametrically opposed factions are
calling for more of this speech to be left online -- OR -- for more of
this speech to be pulled down faster. At least two states have now
passed laws that support the former view -- keep the speech up -- one
of which is now (for the moment at least) in force.
This puts the firms in an utterly untenable position -- it is impossible
to satisfy both sets of demands simultaneously.
Also, politicians tend to grossly underestimate the scales involved.
Even if it were deemed reasonable from a policy standpoint to do so, it
is impossible to monitor all public and private discussion forums for
hateful or violent speech. Even if it were, there is no reliable method
to determine which of these are "just talk" and which (a tiny percentage
overall) might actually result in violent actions. Attempting to report
any significant fraction of such discussions to authorities would
overwhelm them with useless ghosts and in the vast majority of cases
divert them from actual threats.
No matter what the politicians of either party claim, there are
no simple answers to these problems.
- - -
Request invite to my private discussion forum: [email protected]
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): https://www.vortex.com/lauren
Lauren's Blog: https://lauren.vortex.com
Founder: Network Neutrality Squad: https://www.nnsquad.org
PRIVACY Forum: https://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
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