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 isnโt the kind that would enable for more free expression or less poorly justified interference by โfact-checkersโ and similar unaccountable entities, but the kind that would put even more pressure to do away with content that is seen as โharmful to society.โ Mostly, this refers to categories of speech that are often seemingly arbitrarily labeled as hateful, or as โmisinformation.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 reporterโs question by telling a briefing that President Biden โhas long said that tech platforms must be held accountable for the harms that they cause.โ
When Haugen initially leaked Facebookโs 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 giantโs โordinaryโ users.
But quickly, the focus shifted on what Haugen apparently wanted to highlight all along: Facebookโs allegedly harmful effects on mental health, for example of โyoung girls on Instagram,โ and the contribution of (insufficiently โmoderatedโ) 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 Haugenโs โrevelationsโ โ namely, Biden saying that Section 230 should be โimmediately revokedโ because Facebook โis not just an internet company, it is propagating falsehoods they know to be falseโ โ she replied:
โWell, 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, โIt also includes privacy and antitrust reforms as well as more transparency. That should also be on the table.โ