Read on Twitter
1/ Long before Twitter or Facebook or blogging or even the Web, I ran an online bulletin board. I learned some things.
A minority of users create most of the content. Only a tiny minority of that minority create trouble. But that tiny minority has to be dealt with.
A minority of users create most of the content. Only a tiny minority of that minority create trouble. But that tiny minority has to be dealt with.
2/ The "social media" entrepreneurs didn't learn that lesson.
They came on the scene when too much cash and too easy technology let them leap from prototype to scale before learning the hard lessons of community leadership and management.
They came on the scene when too much cash and too easy technology let them leap from prototype to scale before learning the hard lessons of community leadership and management.
3/ Left unaddressed, the malevolent few can destroy all.
Hosting a community requires an investment of time, energy, and (if commercial) money to restrain the worst and encourage the best.
Facebook and Twitter took shortcuts.
Hosting a community requires an investment of time, energy, and (if commercial) money to restrain the worst and encourage the best.
Facebook and Twitter took shortcuts.
4/ The notion that "the cure for bad speech is more speech" is as naive as "we can use an algorithm to fix it."
Neither Facebook nor Twitter has spent the effort that is required. And both have been overly awed by power and position.
Neither Facebook nor Twitter has spent the effort that is required. And both have been overly awed by power and position.
5/ Trump should have been faced long ago.
Right-wing terrorism should have been faced long ago.
None of this should have surprised anyone who makes a living in social media. But clearly they failed to live up to their responsibility.
Right-wing terrorism should have been faced long ago.
None of this should have surprised anyone who makes a living in social media. But clearly they failed to live up to their responsibility.
6/ So now we have, overnight, a reckoning.
When confronted, the worst always complain the most. They're being treated unfairly. Their rights are being taken away. It's all a conspiracy. Liberals and Jews and whatever are behind all of it.
And so on, and so forth.
When confronted, the worst always complain the most. They're being treated unfairly. Their rights are being taken away. It's all a conspiracy. Liberals and Jews and whatever are behind all of it.
And so on, and so forth.
7/ America is a great country.
But like every other country, it has liars, cheaters, the profoundly ignorant, the sociopaths and the psychopaths.
Turning away and pretending these problems do not exist simply allows them to fester.
But like every other country, it has liars, cheaters, the profoundly ignorant, the sociopaths and the psychopaths.
Turning away and pretending these problems do not exist simply allows them to fester.
8/ I hope, but I do not assume, that the social media giants have learned a valuable lesson.
But we need to take whatever steps are necessary to be sure of that.
But we need to take whatever steps are necessary to be sure of that.
9/ This does not mean tossing out Section 230, an idea being pushed by the ill-informed of all corners, and more than a few people of ill will.
It does mean a thoughtful and careful consideration of steps that might be taken to encourage responsibility.
It does mean a thoughtful and careful consideration of steps that might be taken to encourage responsibility.
10/ This is not the sole responsibility of the platforms. Three words matter: "with your help" -- which I credit to my friend @dangillmor . This is on all of us.
Model right behavior.
Report and block malevolence.
Ask others to help.
And do not let the platforms off the hook.
Model right behavior.
Report and block malevolence.
Ask others to help.
And do not let the platforms off the hook.
