Participants in the Democratic National Convention (DNC) were comfortable speaking publicly about what Congress is investigating as conduct that eventually (after the 2020 ballot) turned into government-Big Tech collusion.
And they are doing this by reminiscing about “the good old days” after the 2016 election when major social platforms panicked and got cowed into “working” with Democrats.
“Election integrity” is how supporters of the practice frame the concern that was and is being addressed as platforms have their “calls” with officials.
A University of Southern California Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism panel heard that there is more “deceptive” content and “manipulating voter sentiment” than ever – and yet social media companies are “sharply downsizing election integrity departments,” as one report about the event put it.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee chief information security officer Jude Meche shared that the relationship with these companies is now allegedly not what it used to be.
“Following the 2016 election, we had calls with X and with Meta all the time. They were working with us. That no longer exists, that all faded quickly. We don’t have counterparts in these companies anymore,” said Meche, whose committee’s job is specifically to get Democrat candidates elected to the US Senate.
What happened in 2016, of course, was Donald Trump’s victory. Professor of ethics and finance at New York University Michael Posner cautioned the panel that “we’re back to 2016.”
Posner was referring to social media companies backtracking on their promises to increase “content moderation” made in the wake of that election and accused, or perhaps warned them, that they have been allowed to act “with impunity” since.
But, the Twitter Files, for example, say that those who have been acting with impunity during that time are actually Democrats, and their administration since 2020.
Posner is concerned about the number of people companies like X and Meta these days employ to police and censor speech (election integrity and content moderation are what he calls it) – compared to 2016, when “there was a sense that something had to be done.”
If this DNC panel is anything to go by, there is once again “a sense that something has to be done” among Democrats – but roping in social platforms, particularly, it seems, X, to “cooperate” is now a very different proposition compared to what was doable only a few years ago.
