Thread by @digiphile

When @Facebook added a civic integrity @policy & team, it created an insoluble structural conflict with far-right, authoritarian regimes.

This wasn't an acute problem in the USA until 2016, when FB helped elect a corrupt, far-right autocrat who lies like a fish breathes water.

https://twitter.com/digiphile/status/1356331402346835968

Limiting the reach of toxic BS about a stolen election or conspiracy theories designed to undermine democracy or public health is a core function of a civic integrity @policy, as is inoculating people with facts
e-pluribusunum.org/2021/01/26/why…
Ban accounts if they incite offline violence

“We need to focus more on how the platforms can enable an extremist minority to foment harm & not on how the average person might be brainwashed by a piece of content"- @BrendanNyhan …saging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2… Ergo, limit reach of QAnon, Trump's lies, Russian anti-vaxx BS, etc.

If a company is recommending conspiratorial content & lies that catalyze offline violence (failed putsch) or undermines public health (vaccine refusal) & *chooses to continue* doing so, despite known societal harms, at some point Congress has to act.

https://twitter.com/MonikaBauerlein/status/1445450173811884040

But as with any other area of tech policy that has implications for billions of humans worldwide, Congress shouldn't take a Page from Facebook by moving fast & breaking things.
Enacting a data protection act, codifying Santa Clara Principles, & empowering @FTC would go a long way

Actually enforcing a country-specific civic integrity policy in the USA in 2022 or 2024, as Facebook did in Myanmar, would obviously be incendiary. Transparently limiting the reach of politicians lying about voter fraud or vaccines would disproportionately affect our far-right.

This is why I keep encouraging @Jack & @SusanWojcicki & @finkd to adopt the Santa Clara Principles & adopt granular transparency (open data) about how, when, & why they label, limits, suspends, & bans the accounts of all elected or appointed officials.

https://twitter.com/digiphile/status/1205892058361344000

@jack @SusanWojcicki @finkd There is a structural conflict between ethno-nationalism & liberal democracy.
There is a structural conflict between a counter-majoritarian party that lies about voter fraud & honest journalism:
nybooks.com/daily/2020/11/…
There is a structural conflict between civic integrity & lies