Time May 24/May 31, 2021 pp29-30 |The View|Technology| “Setting Social Standards” by David French
Image from news.sky.com January 07, 2021
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Summary provided by 2244
“Facebook’s Oversight Board” ruled “that Facebook was ‘justified’ when it suspended Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts on Jan. 6.” The board commented as well that an “indefinite suspension” was not “justified” and has given Facebook six months to impose a “defined penalty.” In taking this action, the “quasi-independent” board, signaled “to influencers that they should enjoy no privileges on the platform.” Previously there was a sense that politicians etc. should have more leeway as content might “remain up if Facebook feels the content is ‘newsworthy and in the public interest.” In this opinion piece, David French argues that “Facebook shouldn’t be more permissive for political leaders” and that “creating a two-tiered online justice system that indulges the worst forms of speech-but only for the most powerful speakers-it is not only unfair, it’s dangerous.” The board concluded that “while the same rules should apply to all users, context matters when assessing the probability and imminence of harm.” So, if posts by influential users are likely to create harm “Facebook should act quickly to enforce its rules” of removing the content in question and “suspending the account for a defined period of time.” Such action is not subject to the first amendment and mirrors a “Supreme Court case”…Brandenburg v. Ohio… allowing the government to prohibit content that is “’likely to incite or produce [lawless] action.” In the end, this change should “cause leaders to think twice before using their immense platforms to inflict serious public harm.”