[liberationtech] The ongoing challenges posed by free speech in a digital era

[Yosem Companys]

By Shira Ovide, NYT

Mark Zuckerberg likes to say that Facebook does more good than harm in the
world. But Facebook’s effect on the world is multifaceted and complicated, and
the good can’t simply make us forget the bad.
Without Facebook or a digital hangout like it, we might never have seen the
bystander video of George Floyd pinned under the knee of a Minneapolis police
officer, undermining the official account of Floyd’s death. Facebook gives
everyone — even a 17-year-old — a printing press. Yes, that is often very good.
But on the flip side I think about the Philippines, where Facebook has been
weaponized by powerful people to vilify and harass their enemies, and where the
social network has contributed to a poisoned atmosphere in which even basic
facts are in doubt. It is in poorer countries without strong democratic
institutions where the good but also the harm of Facebook has been magnified.
Facebook has acknowledged that it has been slow to act in some countries and has
more work to do to stop harmful abuses of its hangouts. But Zuckerberg’s
mathematical equation — the good outweighs the bad — is too simplistic.
Every time I think something positive about Facebook, I also hold in my mind the
profound damage the company has done — and that too should be an indelible part
of Zuckerberg’s legacy.
I am grappling with this again now because on Monday a court in Manila convicted
a prominent journalist in the Philippines, Maria Ressa, and a former colleague
of cyber libel.
Ressa and her defenders have said the legal case was an effort to silence news
publications like Rappler, which she co-founded, that have been critical of
President Rodrigo Duterte and his war on drugs that has left thousands of people
dead and disappeared.
Davey Alba, my New York Times colleague, wrote a must-read article two years ago
about the ways that Duterte and his allies employed Facebook to build a large
base of supporters, smear opponents like Ressa and spread hoaxes.
Davey explained to me that Facebook gave Duterte the means to disseminate his
message quickly and broadly. And the company’s computer-rigged system that is
programmed to circulate the most engaging (and often divisive) material lined up
perfectly with the fear, outrage and anger that fueled Duterte’s political
campaign and then his presidency.
There were violent world leaders before Facebook, but as in other countries, the
social network and an authoritarian were a match.
Ressa used Facebook to build an audience for her fledgling news organization.
But she and other Rappler staff were also targeted on Facebook, and the news
outlet devoted its time and resources to combat false information there. As an
official Facebook partner, Rappler was tasked by Facebook to protect the
Philippines from the worst of Facebook.
Alone, the Philippines shows the worst side of Facebook. But this is not an
isolated case.
In Myanmar, Sri Lanka and beyond, there’s a repeated pattern of Facebook’s
system rewarding the most outrageous or fear-mongering messages with more
distribution, to grave consequence. And Facebook fails to address warnings about
the abuses happening under its nose.
Yes, we want and need to bear witness to police brutality videos. But we
shouldn’t accept a genocide in Myanmar or the targeting of a journalist in the
Philippines in exchange for it.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/technology/facebook-philippines.html
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