Remember a year ago, when AOC grilled Mark Zuckerberg in Congress regarding content policing. Facebook said – “they believed strongly that tech companies shouldn’t be arbiters of truth of what people say online”.
But things changed last week.
After the recent events at the Capitol, people asked social media platforms to ban the individual responsible for inciting violence.
And they did.
But wait. That raised more even more questions.
Have they now become arbiters of speech? How will they be consistent in enforcing their policies on the millions of tweets posted online?
When social media platforms weren’t policing content, we said – hate content gets more eyeballs and these companies just want to make more profits. Now that they are policing content as well as individuals, we’re saying – Why are they playing gatekeeper? Weren’t they supposed to allow individuals to freely express ourselves?
“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t”
We’re yet to find the perfect solution. All we need is an assurance from social media platforms, that they will prioritize people over profits.
Inspired: “Facebook and Twitter—The Active Gatekeepers” – Finshots
Picture Credit: Unsplash/Robin Worrall
Prashant Bagga 