Challenges of Virtual Governance in America / Acceptance of Regulation by Platforms – Mehr News Agency | Iran and world’s news
According to the Mehr correspondent, social media has become an integral part of world politics in recent years, with a change in the nature of information and media activity. These days, social networks play a decisive role in global developments. As a result, how to control and deal with the world’s largest corporations has become a point of contention among world policymakers, especially US lawmakers.
Jonathan Asconas, a professor at the Catholic University of the United States, and Ari Schulman, a columnist for the Atlantis Web site, recently wrote an article on the challenge of different policymakers and tech experts on how to deal with large online platforms.
Left-wing politicians in the United States believe that technology companies should limit misinformation and hate speech on their online platforms. However, the right wing, always emphasizing the concept of freedom of expression, claims that these platforms do not exercise their censorship power fairly.
In this article, we will examine the approach of both spectrums.
The fact of the matter is that each of the stated positions contains only a part of the correct facts and arguments, and generally covers a part of the issue.
According to many experts, neither of these two approaches alone can guarantee the continuation of stability in cyberspace and the preservation of freedom of expression while adhering and moving within certain frameworks.
In this regard, Asconas and Schulman intend to explore different solutions and provide a way out of the impasse facing policymakers and technology companies. The first point in this discussion is that the two perspectives do not seem to be far apart, and resolving the discussion of online speech on social media requires a mutual understanding between the parties. Another point is that politicians and users must accept that in order to reduce the political power of online platforms, they first need to acknowledge the political principle of the nature of much of the social media discourse.
Rising controversy over platform governance
In August 2018, many of the world’s leading platforms unanimously deleted the account of Alex Jones, the host of the US talk show host, author, documentary filmmaker and conspiracy theorist.
First the App Store, then Facebook, Spotify, started the process, and Twitter and PayPal joined the Jones boycotters shortly after. This incident was a reaction to some of his positions and views, such as the involvement of the US government in the 9/11 attacks, the fabrication of the Apollo 11 project and landing on the moon, the explosion of Oklahoma City and …
The continuation of this cycle among the platforms was very predictable at that time, and deep debates began among the various spectrums of American politicians. Left-leaning Democrats in the United States (different from the socialist left) argued that technology companies should limit misinformation and hate speech in their online media. Right-wing politicians, meanwhile, have argued that restricting Jones’ presence on platforms violates freedom of expression and that companies can never exercise their restraining power fairly.
Social networks are a platform for praising moral vices and social violence
The problem with social media today is much bigger than the example of Alex Jones. There are very few experts who consider major social platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Google to be a boon to American democracy. According to many experts, these social networks have now become a platform for praising moral vices, creating anger and social violence.
Democrat and pro-platform media outlets are urging Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey to take control of the platform and make more use of machine learning to solve the problem.
2 important errors in dealing with platforms
According to Asconas and Schulman, this approach to platforms has two main problems. First, on the one hand, they target the managers of technology companies, and on the other hand, they demand more power from them to manage the platform. The second mistake is that critics see the issues as the limited side effects of a perfectly healthy technological product.
In other words, despite all the disadvantages mentioned, critics of online platforms still study this innovative phenomenon like other products on the market and therefore believe that the problem can be solved by monitoring and using smart tools, such as machine learning. .
However, the approach of platform managers is very different from the prevailing views of American statesmen and legislators. Platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have transcended the nature of their media and become human communities separate from political boundaries.
In his speeches, Mark Zuckerberg constantly talks about creating a global community on Facebook.
Leaders in the world of technology have come to understand virtual regulation
Technology world leaders and platform managers seem to understand the critical situation ahead. If they use a minimalist and right-wing approach to regulating content and speech in their media context, misinformation, fake news, hate speech and the spread of violence will continue to increase, and sooner or later they will be under intense pressure from political actors across the spectrum. They will face to tighten the rules. On the other hand, if at the beginning they put the hard positions of the left spectrum on the agenda, they will be accused of censorship of the content and restriction of users’ activities.
Given the pressure on the platforms from both spectrums, it can be seen how complicated the issue is. Therefore, the managers of technology companies, in order to get out of the mentioned conditions, have focused on the evolution of processes.
These include setting new policies, revising laws and drafting new rules, and establishing court-like internal institutions to review cases internally. In addition, most platforms are strengthening their content monitoring power to isolate and detect malicious content at high speed.
Undoubtedly, improving the governance process and regulating the activities of platforms in cyberspace in a public and fair manner, can eventually improve the existing conditions in the field of content governance.
The above solutions, in addition to the development of macro policies, increasing the number of content monitors on the platforms, developing review and revision processes, automating monitoring using machine learning and outsourcing part of the content validation, can significantly improve the existing conditions and network efficiency. Increase social.
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