Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

Facebook cannot moderate itself - its problems have only just begun

Facebook cannot moderate itself - its problems have only just begun

Whistleblower testimony about the company’s continuing failure to address problems is pushing legislators to act, says technology writer Chris Stokel-Walker
This week will be a long, difficult one for Facebook. Yesterday whistleblower Frances Haugen answered questions about its business practices before MPs in a parliamentary hearing, which comes after another whistleblower revealed further issues to American authorities about the company. Haugen’s testimony has clearly rattled Facebook, prompting pushback from the company, including direct attacks from an outspoken PR executive.

Haugen’s comments at hearings here and in the US, and the documents revealed in the last week by whistleblowers, have painted the platform in a less than favourable light. Haugen’s testimony isn’t news to those who have monitored independent research into Facebook, but it becomes all the more shocking when it’s there in black and white, based on the company’s own research, and in its own words.

Haugen told the Observer that the Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg is “unaccountable”, “has no oversight” and “has not demonstrated that he is willing to govern the company at the level that is necessary for public safety”. In front of politicians yesterday, she warned about the risks that Facebook is undermining democracy. “I came forward now because now is a critical time to act,” she said. She also warned that “anger and hate is the easiest way to grow on Facebook”, while she said Instagram is nearly impossible to make safe for teenagers, let alone 10-year-olds.

Among the claims she made are that internal tests conducted by Facebook show conservative accounts being channelled down an extremist rabbit hole. The site was also a haven for the conspiratorially minded, who believed that the last year’s US presidential election was “stolen” – without evidence. At one point, one in 10 views of all political content in the US, and one in every 50 views on Facebook, alleged election fraud. It has also allegedly poisoned the well around discourse in India, struggling to contain hate speech, misinformation and celebrations of violence. The reason, reports claim, is that Facebook expanded into the country without understanding its culture.

Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice-president of global affairs, has said in a memo to Facebook staff that these are all understandable results from the social media revolution, that “turns traditional top-down control of information on its head”. People’s ability to decide for themselves what to read, see and digest is empowering, Clegg claims. However, it’s “disruptive to those who hanker after the top-down controls of the past”.

Facebook also claims that it’s madness to say that it’s willing to put profit before people: without the latter, it can’t make the former, and if Facebook was as pernicious a platform as the whistleblowers and politicians allege, then it wouldn’t be a sustainable business.

Plenty disagree. The reckoning Facebook now faces is the result of a typical tech problem: that companies prioritised growth at all costs, without thinking about the ramifications it would have on society. It’s something I’ve seen in my work on other platforms, including YouTube: in their early days, platforms that have become our de facto public forums didn’t grapple with the difficulties of moderating public discourse.

Now it is too late – and we are seeing the inevitable result of decades of under-regulation, or no oversight at all on big tech. The challenge for Facebook is that, after years of trying to ignore the problem, politicians and the public alike no longer believe it when it professes to be part of the solution. What is happening now is that regulation is beginning to be forced on the company, rather than arrived at through consensual engagement.

Hence the swift attempts to bring in regulation via the government’s online safety bill; the joint committee’s scrutiny of its contents was the ostensible reason for Haugen’s appearance yesterday. The bill has been given greater urgency by the killing of Sir David Amess earlier this month. This despite the fact that there has been no suggestion that the MP’s death had anything to do with social media.

What we’re likely to see now is reactionary regulation, drawn up by those who believe the worst of Facebook, and can’t conceive of the best of it. Politicians, fed up with being thrown to the lions of the social media commentariat on a regular basis, have decided they want to hit the company hard. Much of the public, roiled by the algorithms that run wild and push our buttons, are baying for blood too. And both are being guided by former employees who, whether because of genuine concern about what they saw or because they have an axe to grind with their former bosses, want to cut big tech down to size.

It’s hard to feel pity for a platform that has been complicit in all this. Regulation is needed, as Haugen’s testimony showed. If even half her claims are true, they demonstrate the problems we face when living in a world drawn up by Silicon Valley billionaires who see dollar signs from our data, and view people as profit.

The probable remedy, however, isn’t a perfect fix. After years of no regulation whatsoever, an overcorrection now seems likely, with regulation being drawn up from a position of anger, rather than rational thought.

Radical transparency has already been mooted as the necessary next step by Damian Collins, chair of the online safety bill joint committee. That would be an important intervention – though it’s one that Facebook seems not to favour, given its attempts to quell Haugen and other whistleblowers’ attempts to foist transparency on them.

It is necessary, though, because social media platforms have shown themselves so far to be incapable of marking their own homework. They are not willing to responsibly disclose the impact their platforms have on all of us. Facebook’s recent difficulty is just the start. The big tech backlash is entering a new era.
AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Iran Executes Alleged Israeli Spies and Arrests Hundreds Amid Post-War Crackdown
Hungary's Prime Minister Criticizes NATO's Role in Ukraine
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Hungarian Scientist to Conduct 30 Research Experiments on the International Space Station
×