Michael Bennet, US Senator: Facebook is the authoritarians' platform of choice. Mark Zuckerberg, will you fix that?

By Dilip -

Dear Mr Zuckerberg:
Recently, you wrote in the Financial Times that “Facebook is not waiting for regulation” and is “continuing to make progress” on issues ranging from disinformation in elections to harmful content on your platforms. Despite the new policies and investments you describe, I am deeply concerned that Facebook’s actions to date fall far short of what its unprecedented global influence requires. 

Today, Facebook has 2.9 billion users across its platforms, including Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram. In dozens of countries, Facebook has unparalleled power to shape democratic norms and debate, and as a result, elections. I am concerned that Facebook, as an American company, has not taken sufficient steps to prevent its platforms from undermining fundamental democratic values around the world.

Globally, misuse of Facebook platforms appears to be growing worse. Last year, the Oxford Internet Institute reported that governments or political parties orchestrated “social media manipulation” campaigns in 70 countries in 2019 (up from 28 in 2017 and 48 in 2018). Oxford found that at least 26 authoritarian regimes used social media “as a tool of information control … [and] to suppress fundamental human rights, discredit political opponents, and drown out dissenting opinions”. It reported that Facebook was authoritarians’ “platform of choice”.

Case after case suggests that Facebook’s efforts to address these issues are insufficient. ..
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/24/facebook-authoritarian-platform-mark-zuckerberg-michael-bennet

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