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When Trump posted a threat on Facebook, Zuckerberg didn't remove it. He called to help.
MARK ZUCKERBERG says he wants the government to regulate Facebook. But in a recent episode, he seemed far too comfortable with Facebook acting like part of the government, too.
The Post reports that the chief executive got on the phone with President Trump in May after Mr. Trump posted on the platform calling protesters in Minneapolis “THUGS” and asserting “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The post would have violated Facebook’s policies if read as a threat or call to arms, but not if read as a warning. Facebook executives had already contacted the White House and begged for the language to be tweaked or deleted, and soon enough Mr. Trump posted again — explaining his missive was, yes, a warning.
Facebook and its peers are admittedly navigating treacherous straits. The platforms have rules against hate speech, harassment, incitement to violence and more, but they can’t fully function as public forums if they’re constantly removing material from public figures. Unfortunately for them, this country’s most prominent public figure constantly violates their rules. Facebook disputes that it has adapted its policies, as The Post reports, purposefully to accommodate Mr. Trump. Yet there’s no doubt the platform has created exemptions that match the president’s pet behaviors: Politicians can spread falsehoods without fact-checking, and flout guidelines against incendiary speech.
These exemptions have had global implications. It is possible that Facebook would have treated racist and violent rhetoric from, say, Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro differently had the company not already crafted terms of service that let leaders off the hook. The Post also reports that Facebook adjusted a planned revamp of its news feed algorithm designed to reduce the spread of false and inflammatory stories to make the change friendlier to the right wing. Certainly that choice has sculpted the disinformation landscape worldwide.
The Post reports that the chief executive got on the phone with President Trump in May after Mr. Trump posted on the platform calling protesters in Minneapolis “THUGS” and asserting “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” The post would have violated Facebook’s policies if read as a threat or call to arms, but not if read as a warning. Facebook executives had already contacted the White House and begged for the language to be tweaked or deleted, and soon enough Mr. Trump posted again — explaining his missive was, yes, a warning.
Facebook and its peers are admittedly navigating treacherous straits. The platforms have rules against hate speech, harassment, incitement to violence and more, but they can’t fully function as public forums if they’re constantly removing material from public figures. Unfortunately for them, this country’s most prominent public figure constantly violates their rules. Facebook disputes that it has adapted its policies, as The Post reports, purposefully to accommodate Mr. Trump. Yet there’s no doubt the platform has created exemptions that match the president’s pet behaviors: Politicians can spread falsehoods without fact-checking, and flout guidelines against incendiary speech.
These exemptions have had global implications. It is possible that Facebook would have treated racist and violent rhetoric from, say, Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro differently had the company not already crafted terms of service that let leaders off the hook. The Post also reports that Facebook adjusted a planned revamp of its news feed algorithm designed to reduce the spread of false and inflammatory stories to make the change friendlier to the right wing. Certainly that choice has sculpted the disinformation landscape worldwide.
--paywall--https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/facebooks-rules-should-apply-to-everyone-so-why-did-zuckerberg-help-trump-skirt-them/2020/07/02/26fc25ea-ba3a-11ea-8cf5-9c1b8d7f84c6_story.html
1 replies
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