Former President Obama blamed tech companies for failing to address the misinformation problem he said the industry has amplified during a speech Thursday at Stanford University.
The new information ecosystem, fueled by the rise of mainstream social media platforms, is “fueling some of humanity’s worst drives,” he said in the roughly hour-long speech.
“But not all of the problems we’re seeing now are an inevitable byproduct of this new technology. They are also the result of very specific choices, made by the companies that have come to dominate the Internet in general and social media platforms in particular. Decisions that intentionally or unintentionally have made democracies more vulnerable,” he said.
Certain features, such as the “veil of anonymity” online, have compounded the problem, he said.
Obama highlighted the real-world impacts of the spread of disinformation, discussing the spread of false information about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines, the 2020 election conspiracies that fueled violent riots on Capitol Hill last year, and the Russian disinformation campaigns leading up to the invasion. from Ukraine
“People likes it [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, and Steve Bannon for that matter, understand that it is not necessary for people to believe this information in order to weaken democratic institutions. You just have to flood the public square of a country with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theories, that citizens no longer know what to believe,” Obama said. Bannon is a former strategist for former President Trump.
“Once they lose trust in their leaders, in the mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, the possibility of truth, the game is won,” he added.
In recent months, Obama has taken a more active role in the public conversation about mitigating disinformation. Earlier this month, he spoke on the subject at a conference organized by the University of Chicago and The Atlantic.
On Thursday, the former president advocated a multi-pronged approach to combat disinformation, including government reform, tech employee-led change and a shift in the way users consume news and information online.
“At the end of the day, the Internet is a tool, social media is a tool. At the end of the day, the tools do not control us. We control them. And we can remake them,” Obama said.
“It is up to each of us to decide what we value and then use the tools we have been given to promote those values. And I believe we must use every tool at our disposal to secure our greatest gift: a government of, by, and for the people, for generations to come,” he said.
Without going into specific details, Obama offered his support for plans to reform Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives technology companies a shield from legal liability against content published by third parties. The controversial measure has come under fire from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, though there is little bipartisan consensus on how to reform it.
But he said the problem also needs to be addressed within the industry.
“These companies need to have some other North Star besides making money and growing market share. To solve the problem that they partly helped to create, but also to represent something bigger,” he said.
“And to the employees of these companies and to the students here at Stanford who may well be future employees of these companies: You have the power to move things in the right direction. You can advocate for change, you can be a part of this redesign, and if not, you can vote with your feet and go to work with companies that are trying to do the right thing,” he added.
In addition to changes on the “supply” side, there must be a change on the “demand” side, he said.
That change starts with “breaking our information bubbles,” he said.
“I understand that there are a lot of people in this country who have views that are diametrically opposed to mine. I promise you they tell me all the time. I understand. I’m not suggesting that we all need to spend our days reading opinions we don’t agree with or looking for stories in the media that fundamentally don’t share our values. But it is possible to broaden our perspectives,” he said.
Reference-thehill.com