Facing Facebook: The Most Powerful Unelected Entity Worldwide
Social media has become one of the most convenient ways to keep up with current news. On Facebook, I’m able to read news from some of my favorite newspapers every morning. On Twitter, I can read the opinions of public figures about various events as they are happening in real-time. On LinkedIn, I can follow the latest developments within tech and business. Social media has presented me with an opportunity to stay informed by simply browsing and scrolling through my newsfeeds. At the same time, social media has become a place where I must be cautious and careful of the content I am absorbing and sharing, as misinformation and disinformation continue to spread rapidly.
Social media usage is one of the most popular online activities. The average daily user spends about 145 minutes per day engaging with content and scrolling through newsfeeds on various channels. In 2020, more than 3.6 billion people were reported active on social media worldwide, with roughly 2.91 billion of those users coming from Facebook alone. As one of the most popular and thus influential online social networks worldwide, Facebook has come under scrutiny for not doing enough to protect the public from harm happening on the platform.
Protecting Facebook
Facebook has long been shielded by Section 230 of The Communications Act which protects tech platforms from legal liability relating to harmful content shared on their platforms by third parties. Additionally, platforms can monitor their sites for harmful content but are not required to remove anything, should they choose not to. The platform has provided undeniable benefits as it gives a democratic voice to groups of people and helps magnify pressing social issues such as the #BlackLivesMatter movement. However, we have also seen how much devastation and chaos this platform has the potential to cause, forcing us to revisit the question of accountability. As a space where much of the planning for the Capital riots took place, should Facebook be held liable for not being proactive in removing harmful content promoting domestic terrorism?
The Facebook Whistleblower
Frances Haugen, known as the Facebook whistleblower, is a former employee of Facebook who came forward to discuss the details of the platform’s propagation of misinformation and hate. Since working at the company in 2019, she observed how it dealt with content concerning ethnic violence, fake news, misinformation, and its negative impact on users of specific content. A conflict of interest between what was good for the public and what was good for Facebook meant that Facebook continually chose what was in their best interest.
Misinformation sells and Haugen further explains how Facebook is set on optimizing for content that gets the most engagement. According to its research, that content is hateful as users enjoyed engaging with posts that elicited a negative emotional response. By changing the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the platform and therefore, there will be less money in the pocket of Facebook. Another topic of concern is the research indicating how Instagram has been damaging to the mental health of teenage girls as a staggering 13.5% of teen girls claim that Instagram makes thoughts of suicide worse and 17% say it makes eating disorders worse.
Next Steps
Proponents for accountability argue that Facebook requires governmental oversight as it will not regulate itself or be transparent if no legal implications exist. On the other hand, freedom of speech is the foundation of US democracy noted in the first amendment.
As we wait to see how Facebook, as well as other social media companies, take measures to protect us from the potential threats on their platforms, we must protect ourselves from misinformation. It is important to be hypercritical of the information we consume online by verifying and double-checking to ensure that it is in fact, factual. Until these companies step forward and put the “public over profit,” personal responsibility is the first step to protect the well-being of society.
