New 'Council for Responsible Social Media' Seeks Bipartisan Reforms (msn.com) 30
"Public officials in Washington for years have sparred along partisan lines over whether social media platforms take down too much or too little hate speech and misinformation," reports the Washington Post's politics/tech newsletter, The Technology 202.
"A council launching this week aims to sidestep those disputes by proposing reforms that tackle issues of bipartisan concern, including children's safety and national security." The newly minted Council for Responsible Social Media, set up by the nonpartisan nonprofit Issue One, features a wide-ranging and influential lineup of former U.S. lawmakers and federal officials, advocates, scholars, industry leaders and whistleblowers... "This is not a think tank. This is an action tank," former Democratic House majority leader Dick Gephardt told The Technology 202. "We want to see results...."
"The core goal of the commission is to really show that there are bipartisan paths forward ... that involve having companies have to actually talk about what is their role in society," Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said in an interview. Haugen said the council can move the debate around social media accountability forward by focusing on areas of "common ground," like concerns around algorithmic amplification, transparency and platform design choices. Haugen said proposals the council might explore include giving users, particularly children, the option to "reset algorithms" so they do not keep wandering down the same risky "rabbit holes." By focusing on systemic issues, she said, the group might be able to help build support for ideas that sidestep thorny speech debates. The council may also rally around legislation that already has bipartisan support, such as recent Senate bills on kids' online safety and platform transparency, Haugen said....
The council is also poised to shine a brighter spotlight on how U.S. companies may be playing into the hands of foreign adversaries — scrutiny that has largely focused on TikTok, owned by Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance.... Haugen said one concept the group may explore is requiring "consistent reporting" by companies about how much they are investing to counter foreign influence operations.
The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (introduced in 2021) "would require social media firms to comply with researcher data requests for external audits," reports the Guardian. "Under the proposed law, failure to do so could result in loss of legal protections for content hosted on their platform."
"There are a number of large opportunities today that were not on the table a year ago in terms of moving forward in a bipartisan way," Haugen told the Guardian. "They just need a push over the finish line."
"A council launching this week aims to sidestep those disputes by proposing reforms that tackle issues of bipartisan concern, including children's safety and national security." The newly minted Council for Responsible Social Media, set up by the nonpartisan nonprofit Issue One, features a wide-ranging and influential lineup of former U.S. lawmakers and federal officials, advocates, scholars, industry leaders and whistleblowers... "This is not a think tank. This is an action tank," former Democratic House majority leader Dick Gephardt told The Technology 202. "We want to see results...."
"The core goal of the commission is to really show that there are bipartisan paths forward ... that involve having companies have to actually talk about what is their role in society," Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said in an interview. Haugen said the council can move the debate around social media accountability forward by focusing on areas of "common ground," like concerns around algorithmic amplification, transparency and platform design choices. Haugen said proposals the council might explore include giving users, particularly children, the option to "reset algorithms" so they do not keep wandering down the same risky "rabbit holes." By focusing on systemic issues, she said, the group might be able to help build support for ideas that sidestep thorny speech debates. The council may also rally around legislation that already has bipartisan support, such as recent Senate bills on kids' online safety and platform transparency, Haugen said....
The council is also poised to shine a brighter spotlight on how U.S. companies may be playing into the hands of foreign adversaries — scrutiny that has largely focused on TikTok, owned by Beijing-based tech giant ByteDance.... Haugen said one concept the group may explore is requiring "consistent reporting" by companies about how much they are investing to counter foreign influence operations.
The Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (introduced in 2021) "would require social media firms to comply with researcher data requests for external audits," reports the Guardian. "Under the proposed law, failure to do so could result in loss of legal protections for content hosted on their platform."
"There are a number of large opportunities today that were not on the table a year ago in terms of moving forward in a bipartisan way," Haugen told the Guardian. "They just need a push over the finish line."
MiniTrue (Score:1, Troll)
How many times are they going to try and create the Ministry of Truth?
We just watched the government shill for Pfizer and Moderna and were told to "trust the science" and now we know that they were lying from the start and the Pfizer "vaccine" was never tested on preventing transmission: https://lynnwoodtimes.com/2022... [lynnwoodtimes.com]
Re: (Score:2)
They'll keep trying till they succeed...
Funded by the Rockefeller (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Don't fall for this (Score:1)
This nonsense is easy to sell to horrified liberals who have lost their older relatives to fake news.
But don't fall for it.
Trying to make the social media companies block the garbage won't work.
There are no easy answers to this problem.
Social media isn't a USA thing (Score:2)
And the world is more than "bi"-partisan.
Which government should have jurisdiction to regulate how much of the content, as posted by whom living where? and as viewed by whom living where? Which laws apply and what international treaties govern the application of those laws?
Asking as a citizen of one of those other countries who regularly posts on and reads social media, then goes to vote in that same different country.
tick tock and you don't stop (Score:2)
wow that's wild that investigating the non-US social media firm at a time when US ones are floundering is really important to national security
Council of responsible media (Score:2)
Lemme guess, the George Bush Center for Intelligence was demanding that someone invents something that is even more ridiculous so people stop making fun of them?
Some whistleblowers not invited (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Misinformation doesn't exist. (Score:1)
Just like truth, lies, or as we call it today - misinformation, doesn't exist. It's all a matter of interpretation. What I find informative you may find to be complete bollocks, and vice versa. "One man's trash is another man's treasure", and all that. Trying to police misinformation should therefore be studied by philosophers, not governments.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
That's a complete load of shit and you know it. We're talking about objectively dangerous lies here.
Does the Covid-19 vaccine contain microchips or make the injection site magnetic? No, it does not. It doesn't matter what you personally believe. That claim is objectively false. Not only that, but it's gotten people killed.
Is drinking industrial bleach, your own urine, eating horse paste, or any combination of these an effective treatment for Covid-19? No, it is not. This ridiculous claim has also gott
Re:Misinformation doesn't exist. (Score:4, Insightful)
There is no room for subjectivity there. These things are not "true for you", they're bullshit for everyone. There is an objective reality and it's long past time people stopped denying that.
They also make America a laughing stock in the rest of the normal world. That ~half of Americans are unhinged from objective reality does not bode well for your future as a serious country.
Re: (Score:3)
Why are you posting on /. instead of using the time to search for extra blankets and coal for the winter? lol
Because I live in Canada and have clean hydro power and reliable domestically produced natural gas heat.
Europe made a mistake trusting Putin, but Trumptards seem to have a crush on him too, so not much to choose for brains there.
Re: Misinformation doesn't exist. (Score:2)
That's a complete load of shit and you know it.
Misinformation, you might say.
"Responsible social media" hahaha (Score:3)
That was funny
"The Social Dilemma" (Score:2)
Great movie about this problem on Netflix.
Beyond the known individual pathologies of social media, it also explores how it can be used to destabilize societies. Scary.
At best, nibbling at the edges (Score:2)
Given that some people believe they should be allowed to post statements that are demonstrably false without repercussion, it's hard to see how this could move forward - even if they were serious about the stated topic (which I doubt; there's probably some completely different agenda behind this).
Funny definition of "bipartisan" (Score:1)
I skimmed the article and saw "Washington Post", "Dick Gephardt", "Frances Haugen" and "The Guardian". Do they think that bipartisan means both center-left and far-left?
Claims are incorrect (Score:2)
... children's safety and national security.
The two causes that are always right and no-one would ever object to.
Forget Satan-worshipping pedophiles, claims such as "fiscally responsible" and "tough on crime", aren't correct either.
From their "About Us" page (Score:2)
As part of an initiative led by ourCovenant, evangelical pastors and others will gather to build trust, deepen respect and civility through local church member conversations that will connect scripture to building virtuous communities and increasing commitments to a vibrant, healthy democracy.
ourCovenant will collaborate with organizations working to deepen ties among communities of varied faiths, and joint efforts that strengthen civil society and our democratic republic.
ourCovenant also will support and reinforce accurate reliable information from credible sources, conveyed by trustworthy messengers.
source [issueone.org]
So... it's a bunch of evangelical Christians who want to control what gets said on the internet. Color me shocked.
Government using social media as a proxy to .. (Score:2)
The US government is using Social Media as a proxy to violate the First Amendment.
There are two ways they can do this.
1) by requesting (perhaps with a threat or in some sort of spying trade deal) that censorship take place on specific topics.
2) by government failure to support the Bill of Rights without biased corporate exception. No law or agreement that violates the spirit and intent of all law as defined by the Declaration of Independence, certainly covering the Bill of Rights, is legal.
To the point: any