Obama calls for regulating social networks, threats to democracy


Alexander Schmid

April 23, 2022 at 08:00

16

Barack Obama © Netflix

© Netflix

Long perceived as incredible tools for freedom of expression and democracy, social networks have fallen into the traps from which they must emerge.

Barack Obama may have placed social networks at the heart of his campaign strategies to be elected president of the United States, but today he criticizes what these platforms have become.

Laws to better regulate social networks

Invited to California’s Stanford University, he spoke at length on the evolution of social networks and the place they have taken today in public debate. And he does not cut corners: according to him, they amplify ” humanity’s worst instincts “.

One of the major causes of the weakening of democracies is the profound change in our ways of communicating and informing ourselves “said the former resident of the White House.

One of the solutions he proposes is to regulate services of this type with legislation that gives itself the means to oblige the companies that manage them to be more transparent. He also submits the idea of ​​giving regulators the possibility of controlling the operation of algorithms.

Attract attention with polarizing and extreme content

Indeed, for Barack Obama, it is not really what users publish that is problematic, but the way in which content is promoted and highlighted by the platforms. These favor inflammatory, polarizing content that grabs attention and encourages participation in order to keep Internet users longer on their service, and thus increase their income.

A realization of the negative effect of social media was the storming of the Capitol, orchestrated on January 6, 2021 by supporters of Donald Trump refusing the electoral victory of Joe Biden. ” We just saw a sitting president deny clear election results and help incite a violent insurgency against the Nation’s Capital “recalled Obama. He regrets not having perceived earlier ” how receptive we had become to lies and conspiracy theories “.

For him, in order to stop the downward spiral, we need laws that allow us to protect ourselves and ensure that ” the tools don’t control us but let us control them.

Source : The world



Source link -99