[liberationtech] Facebook Asks - Hard Questions: Social Media and Democracy

[Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes]

I don’t believe that to betray democracy will ever be “technically impossible!!!!”

It all boils down to ETHICS, not TECHNOLOGY.

And ALL the “Social Network” COMMERCIAL platforms are NON-DEMOCRATIC BY DESIGN. They’re basically no different in that respect than traditional (corporate-controlled) broadcast stations.

Regards / Saludos / Grato

Andrés Leopoldo Pacheco Sanfuentes

> On Jan 22, 2018, at 9:52 AM, carlo von lynX <lynX at time.to.get.psyced.org> wrote:
> 
> No need to follow the link, here are the interesting snippets:
> 
>> Now, we’re as determined as ever to fight the negative influences and ensure that our platform is unquestionably a source for democratic good.
> 
> Just like democracy is no longer a democracy if somebody could
> decide to switch off, say, separation of powers or verifiability
> of vote, democracy is no longer a democracy if one corporation
> has the choice on whether to be a "source of democratic good" or
> secretively possibly unvoluntarily be not so. Therefore, the fact
> that Facebook has achieved such a role is unconstitutional.
> Actually, the way the whole Internet is easy to eavesdrop and do
> big data analysis upon is making every democracy whose voters use
> it struturally a post-democracy. How long until we regulate this?
> 
>> Our role is to ensure that the good outweighs the forces that can compromise healthy discourse.
> 
> Incorrect. No online platform should have this much power to
> make such decisions.
> 
> Further articles comment on the good and bad of social media,
> entirely neglecting that a properly regulated Internet would
> eliminate the risks of social media and only leave us with
> the good aspects of it, so there is zero reason to continue
> dealing with the threats of technology as if the benefits are
> inevitabily interweaved. That is a fallacy, albeit a
> remarkably popular one.
> 
> So do yourself a favor and skip reading those articles, they
> are only trying to convince you that Facebook is a reasonable
> company to entrust with the power to corrupt democracy, as if
> the Malvinas incident in 2009 hadn't already proven the opposite.
> 
> You can have all the apps and Internet fun you like, but to
> betray democracy must be technically impossible. Such an
> abuse-resistant Internet is possible. Society has to care
> and to regulate.
> 
> If anything of that sounds wrong or exaggerated, then you are 
> missing some of the clues. I can fill you in.
> 
> -- 
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