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White House commits to tackling โ€œharmsโ€ caused by Big Tech platforms

Censorship commitments.

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The decision of former Facebook employee Frances Haugen to come out against the company guns blazing is a gift that keeps on giving, at least to those who are pushing for more stringent regulation of social media sites โ€“ and in favor of a particular type of moderation.

And it isnโ€™t the kind that would enable for more free expression or less poorly justified interference by โ€œfact-checkersโ€ and similar unaccountable entities, but the kind that would put even more pressure to do away with content that is seen as โ€œharmful to society.โ€ Mostly, this refers to categories of speech that are often seemingly arbitrarily labeled as hateful, or as โ€œmisinformation.โ€

After the EU openly expressed interest in working with Haugen โ€“ who had the privilege of testifying before US Senate this week โ€“ in pushing through their own legislation to this end, the White House has joined in, with its press secretary responding to a reporterโ€™s question by telling a briefing that President Biden โ€œhas long said that tech platforms must be held accountable for the harms that they cause.โ€

When Haugen initially leaked Facebookโ€™s internal documents, reports, like the one in the Wall Street Journal, naturally put the emphasis on what is perhaps the most explosive revelation in those leaks: that VIP figures enjoy privileged treatment on the platform, and are exempt from following the same rules as billions of the giantโ€™s โ€œordinaryโ€ users.

But quickly, the focus shifted on what Haugen apparently wanted to highlight all along: Facebookโ€™s allegedly harmful effects on mental health, for example of โ€œyoung girls on Instagram,โ€ and the contribution of (insufficiently โ€œmoderatedโ€) debates taking place on the platform to political division.

So when a reporter asked the White House press secretary Jen Psaki whether Biden stood by his campaign statements regarding Section 230, in light of Haugenโ€™s โ€œrevelationsโ€ โ€“ namely, Biden saying that Section 230 should be โ€œimmediately revokedโ€ because Facebook โ€œis not just an internet company, it is propagating falsehoods they know to be falseโ€ โ€“ she replied:

โ€œWell, the president has long said, as you referenced, that tech platforms must be held accountable for the harms that they cause. And he has been a strong supporter of fundamental reforms to achieve that goal. This includes Section 230 reforms.โ€ Almost as an afterthought, she added, โ€œIt also includes privacy and antitrust reforms as well as more transparency. That should also be on the table.โ€

If youโ€™re tired of censorship and surveillance, subscribe to Reclaim The Net.

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