Thread: A good morning with a good long read on one of the most interesting issues of our time. A few random quotes from the article and commentators in the thread. Attribution in the article. #freespeech #responsibility #bigtech @FT
on.ft.com/3oOcpHG
”...the decision to de-platform the democratically elected president has exposed as never before the contradictions at the heart of social media”.
”As long as Mark, Jack, Sundar or Susan can arbitrarily decide who can appear on their company’s services and what they are permitted to say, people will not be satisfied that these decisions are in the public interest, rather than corporate commercial interests.”
”The assault on the Capitol was a horrible week for Big Tech because it raised their prominence, it raised their visibility — not simply as commercial institutions, but as political institutions,” William Kovacic, a former FTC chairman and a current law professor at GWU.
”The fact that they ‘broke the glass’ by blocking Trump's ability to communicate on their services has, if anything, placed greater pressure on these companies to demonstrate the legitimacy of their decisions”.
”It is problematic to have Jack Dorsey decide whether Donald Trump stays or goes, but it may be more problematic to have federal judges do so.”
”One improvement, according to many observers, would be a clearer delineation of the rules that the platforms apply to policing speech, along with more consistent enforcement.”
”Consistency will never be easy. Regulation of language is inherently subjective. Having turned a blind eye to the repeated use of exactly the same language for weeks, it was only when election denial turned to violence at the heart of US government that the tech companies acted”
”Europe’s proposed digital services act, meanwhile, attempts to impose similar checks on internet companies judged to have the power of gatekeepers. They would have to audit their algorithms and content moderation decisions to show whether they risked bias or other harms.”
”There is no guarantee that more regulation will stem the tide of online hate speech and conspiracy-mongering. It may also entrench big platforms with the resources to operate in a more regulated world...
But after last week’s stark demonstration of tech company power over political speech, it just got one step closer.”
END

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More from @alexstubb

14 Jan
Jätin päivänpolitiikan 2016. En tiedä miten etäälle olen siitä päässyt, mutta tämä tulkinta on minulle totaalisen vieras. Haiskahtaa enemmän toimittajan mielipidekirjoitukselta kuin puolueettomalta tulkinnalta. ⁦@PaavoTeittinenhs.fi/politiikka/art…
Olin 4 vuotta meppinä ja 8 vuotta hallituksessa, ja niistä 2 vuotta @kokoomus puheenjohtaja. Se #Kokoomus, jota itse edustin oli nimenomaan sinivihreä, kansainvälinen, liberaali ja suvaitsevainen.
Koska jutun perusvire viittaa vaaliasemointiin, niin on paikallaan muistuttaa, että vaaleissa kannattaa aina olla oma itsensä ja uskollinen arvoilleen. Silloin vaaleissa myös syntyy tulosta. Helppoa on toki exän puskista huudella. Lykkyä kaikille, jotka ehdolle asettuvat.
Read 4 tweets
12 Jan
I like @Twitter. I do not like Donald Trump. I like free speech. I do not like Twitter’s decision to ban DT from its platform. In a democracy legislation, by elected representatives, sets the boundaries. Courts, not social media platforms, decide when those boundaries are broken.
I have no problem with an account being suspended, or Twitter indicating that the information provided by a tweet is disputable or wrong, but a permanent ban should be decided through the judiciary, not a listed company. 2/3
And for the record: I think the world is a better, more peaceful and civilised place without the tweets of Donald Trump. 3/3
Read 4 tweets
17 Jul 20
This is the first EU budget negotiation where I am not involved in the end game. Did parts of Agenda 2000 as a civil servant, 2007-14 as an MEP (lesser role) and 2014-20 as Europe Minister in charge of the Finnish negotiations. This time up until January leading @EIB team...
There is always lots of drama around negotiations on money, never more so than now with the other rescue packages bringing the total tally north of 2,5 trillion euros. I do not want to spoil the party, but European leaders will clinch a deal either over the weekend or...
...before the end July. It is much easier to find a compromise when there is such an array of issues on table to bargain for. Before that there will be the usual drama of public statements, historic crisis, deadlocks, misunderstood and misjudged statemens...
Read 7 tweets
11 Dec 19
Thread: Thank you for your kind remarks regarding my earlier tweet about Finland’s new government composition. What strikes me is that many are ”surprised” that someone from an ”opposition party” expresses positive views about an ”ideologically” different government. 1/10
Perhaps it is all about expectations. Somehow we think that politics should be all about slamming those who are not in our party or have a different opinion about a specific issue. This is naturally fed by politicians and the media. Spurred on by social media. 2/10
I find this kind of thinking somewhat old fashioned. Perhaps it is because I came into politics rather late. I joined my party at the age of 36 and left executive national politics at the age of 49. While in office I often felt uncomfortable with party politics. 3/10
Read 11 tweets

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