Social Media Giants

So, I thought it would be interesting to continue from my last post with a different article looking at the on-going hearings that are going on with Facebook, Google, and Twitter. Because this article is from The Daily Beast I found it to be a little different in style than the typical news articles, the author, Spencer Ackerman has a more direct manner, and I found it interesting to read his take on the hearings after reading about them from NPR's view last week.

He starts with a strong statement about the role of social media companies saying that:

"Because if social media companies have to get into the business of what is truth and what is agitprop, it might mean a radical restructuring  of their operations, their views of themselves, and their relationships with both users and Washington." (Ackerman) 

What does this mean to use the user? What should we expect from a social media company? Sen Ted Cruz (R) "laid into Google for what he considered a liberal bias in its algorithm." I found this remark and to do just what the Russian propaganda sets out to do, divide a nation already intensely divided. How would Google benefit from a liberal algorithm?

Much of what is being addressed is Russia using social media to create and promote hate groups, but this is not content or ideas that are coming from out of the blue. What is disturbing and the deeper problem is that these groups are only possible because there are people to join them. "Much of what Russia post on inauthentic accounts was material culled from across the internet from American communities themselves, for camouflage." (Ackerman)

So what is to be done? Instead of regulation, the companies are "quick to point out self-policing as an answer." (Ackerman) they also plan "add more humans to their review teams-though all three expressed faith in the sophistication of their algorithms to identify suspicious behavior." (Ackerman)


Link to The Daily Beast Article:
Senators and Social Media Giants Talk Past Each Other in Russia Hearings