The way discussions about Facebook policing content are framed rubs me the wrong way. Facebook should not be put in a position where it's responsible for dealing with authoritarianism, extremism, and other societal ills. The only reason it seems like it has to do this is that we've allowed Facebook to become a near-monopoly on a certain form of social networking.
The solution is not trying to compel or convince Facebook to act as an arbiter of morality for the world; it is to break Facebook up and restrict it's ability to monopolize the online space. Real competition in social networking would mean communities could form their own rules and norms around what's acceptable - like in the forum era - without relying on a central authority such as Facebook to do it for them. A decentralized protocol/system like Mastodon allows this kind of partitioning of the social space.
Would this stop authoritarianism? No. But it would turn censorship into a game of whack-a-mole, and limit the spread of authoritarian ideas to the social networks whose communities are already OK with that.
The way discussions about Facebook policing content are framed rubs me the wrong way. Facebook should not be put in a position where it's responsible for dealing with authoritarianism, extremism, and other societal ills. The only reason it seems like it has to do this is that we've allowed Facebook to become a near-monopoly on a certain form of social networking.
The solution is not trying to compel or convince Facebook to act as an arbiter of morality for the world; it is to break Facebook up and restrict it's ability to monopolize the online space. Real competition in social networking would mean communities could form their own rules and norms around what's acceptable - like in the forum era - without relying on a central authority such as Facebook to do it for them. A decentralized protocol/system like Mastodon allows this kind of partitioning of the social space.
Would this stop authoritarianism? No. But it would turn censorship into a game of whack-a-mole, and limit the spread of authoritarian ideas to the social networks whose communities are already OK with that.