WhatsappSocial media has become the main battleground for ideas in the 21st century. As recently as just ten years ago, social media was a force, but not one that profoundly impacted life the way it does today. It was still in it’s infancy. The precursors to Facebook existed, but did not succeed in dominating the lives of millions. Then Facebook came on the scene and carved out a massive niche in the marketplace of ideas. Today, there is nearly no major movement today that has grown without a massive Facebook presence.
Should Facebook be supervised by Federal agencies? Has it become such a massive behemoth that it threatens our safety? It depends. If Facebook exists as a “fair” platform, meaning, where Facebook does not decide what is fair and what is not, then a lot of good will come from it. The problem is what should be done about defining and implementing the red lines that must exist in any platform of free speech. If Facebook itself, meaning, a whole bunch of 20 and thirty something engineers will be entrusted with the power to define the limits of our free speech, then an inordinate amount of power will be found in the hands of Marc Zuckerberg and the upper management of Facebook. A non-governmental body that has no business interest should be formed. They should represent a broad cross section of society, that are agreed upon by Facebook, Google and a governmental oversight committee. They should make sure that a broad amount of free speech is retained, yet establish clear red lines to make sure that no clear calls for violence are allowed to fester on the internet and spread via Facebook.
Otherwise, leftists will accuse Facebook of being too open to right-wingers, and vice-versa. The key is a group of mutually respected free speech advocates with impeccable reputations running the decision making. Otherwise, we will all be run by the ideology of Marc Zuckerberg and upper Facebook management. That is not free speech. That is 1984.
