Read on Twitter
We need to combat racism on social media and in wider society but the answer isn't better self-regulation by executives in Silicon Valley. Twitter removing tweets and accounts quicker will have minimal impact and will be a game of whack-a-mole.
1/8
1/8
The power of social media giants should be met with effective regulation and accountability. It is more democratic for us in the UK to determine what is and isn't acceptable free speech rather than leaving that decision to Jack Dorsey or Mark Zuckerberg.
2/8
2/8
The nature of social media is that anyone and everyone is able to post whatever they like. No one can predict what people will post and platforms are faced with billions of pieces of new content every day.
3/8
3/8
Social media companies need to do their best to keep racism off their platform, but this problem is a societal one and requires a societal response. We often respond to societal challenges with taxation & public expenditure. We should do the same here.
4/8
4/8
There is lots of activity on 'online harms' in the UK with the Government planning to push through legislation in the next few months. Everyone who is interested in combating hate speech online should engage with this.
5/8
5/8
The current conversations on online harms is lacking in its diversity of background, experience, and thought.
Add some diversity and engage with @HoCpetitions inquiry on online abuse. They're accepting submissions until August 5th. https://committees.parliament.uk/work/307/tackling-online-abuse.
6/8
Add some diversity and engage with @HoCpetitions inquiry on online abuse. They're accepting submissions until August 5th. https://committees.parliament.uk/work/307/tackling-online-abuse.
6/8
I wrote a long piece recently on 'free speech in the internet age' looking at some of the reasons why the internet is the way it is and arguing that we need to foster a culture of 'respect' in online debates. Have a read: https://webrootsdemocracy.org/2020/07/20/free-speech-in-the-internet-age.
7/8
7/8
There are lots of ideas out there but this is my preferred one: the introduction of a 'Civil Internet Tax' on social media giants to fund offline anti-discrimination & digital literacy initiatives. In my opinion, this is the only long-term solution. https://webrootsdemocracy.org/2020/06/01/a-civil-internet-tax/
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8/8
