Read on Twitter
I covered social media for years. Trump probably would not have become president without his Twitter megaphone, Russian election interference on Facebook and other social media platforms -- and Section 230.
Contrary to Mark Zuckerberg’s claims that he doesn’t think Facebook should act as the “arbiter of truth,” the company has done so many times.
Facebook used to label posts as well, and even brought on third-party fact-checkers. Most recently, the company has removed COVID-19 disinformation and has downgraded anti-vaccine hoaxes.
And Facebook has definitely censored content, from the famous Vietnam War-era photo of the “napalm girl” to breastfeeding photos to live streams of violence or police shootings.
What conservatives have complained about, though, is when their bigoted, misogynistic and/or white supremacist views are stifled, because they want to be free to spout their hatred and prejudice, and at times even call for violence against others, without repercussion.
Then they call for private companies to enforce the First Amendment.
That Zuckerberg continues to insist that Facebook shouldn’t fact-check posts is galling considering it is proven that Russia interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election by weaponizing social media and spreading lies.
That& #39;s what led to Trump’s election and why we’re dealing with an unprecedented cultural, political, health and economic crisis.
I mostly agree with activists who say that getting off Facebook, with its massive reach, isn’t the answer. It’s to push the company to do better.
Twitter is deeply flawed and far from perfect, and like all social media companies faces hard decisions every single day, but it has dared to place fact-checking labels on Trump’s tweets and remove a couple of his retweets.
It has the right to try to ensure what is being spread on its platform is factual.
Section 230 isn’t perfect, either. It has allowed social media giants to avoid responsibility for allowing misinformation, disinformation, bigotry, misogyny and more on their platforms.
But like the ACLU says, Section 230, a provision of the Communications Decency Act, mostly allows for speech and not censorship. There are other ways to hold social media companies accountable, and lawmakers are trying.
This is not just Trump vs. Twitter. It’s the continuation of an all-out assault on the truth, not just by this administration but those who support it.
And it’s outrageous but not coincidental that it’s happening during a pandemic that has killed more than 101,000 Americans in three months.
