People For Member,
For years, tech companies around the world have ignored the rampant spread of hate and disinformation campaigns on the internet, and repeatedly we have witnessed the ramifications of letting it go unchecked.
Candidates can brazenly lie about their opponents and Facebook will barely flinch; lies can spread like wildfire on Twitter while executives defend their decision to not flag or remove the content; far-right extremist groups can raise money and sell merchandise with dehumanizing racist messages while vendors cash in on the profits.
As the organizational home to Right Wing Watch, we’re all too familiar with how conspiracy theories and “big lies” – including those with the power to incite violence, like Trump’s lies about the 2020 election – can take root on these online platforms. In the past, we’ve taken measures into our own hands to de-platform leading voices of hate – for example, when Right Wing Watch’s reporting on how platforms like Spotify were letting extreme conspiracy theorist Alex Jones run roughshod over their terms of service, and it led to his channels and podcasts getting dropped by Spotify, YouTube, Facebook, Apple, and other tech and media companies.1,2,3
The January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has exposed the urgency of solving this problem. Companies such as Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon have finally taken action to rein in some of the most dangerous purveyors of destructive lies and conspiracy theories – from Donald Trump to a host of QAnon accounts – but it’s not enough. We must demand more.
If the past year has proven anything, it’s that we can’t rely on tech companies to self-regulate the content on their platforms.
While Facebook and Twitter have at least for the moment banned all political advertising and have begun cracking down on influencers with large followings who continue to spread lies and hate (such as Donald Trump), it has been a race to the bottom as more tech platforms emerge that are willing to allow such extremism to continue unfiltered and unchecked.
It’s a dangerous game that cannot be allowed to continue as our democracy hangs in the balance.
For the same reasons that you’re not allowed to falsely yell “fire!” in a crowded theater, people who post blatant lies and misinformation should not be allowed to spread those lies and misinformation online – it poses an imminent risk to public safety and wellbeing.
Tech companies have indeed transformed the way we live, work, and connect online – mostly for the better, but they also must be held to account for their continued failure to prevent the spread of the extremist content that has exacerbated the hate and division that now plague our country.
The cost of inaction is far too great.
Thanks for all you do,
Zach, People For the American Way
[1] "Spotify Hosts Infowars Podcasts Despite Clear Rule-Breaking" Right Wing Watch, 7/30/18
[2] "Spotify Cancels ‘The Alex Jones Show’; Apple, Facebook and YouTube Dump Infowars" Right Wing Watch, 8/6/18
[3] "Meet Jared Holt, the guy who's getting Alex Jones kicked off the internet" Salon, 8/8/18
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