How Republicans pushed Silicon Valley social media companies to stop fighting election misinformation

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The shift took place against the backdrop of an intimidation campaign led by Republican state and federal lawmakers aimed at forcing social media companies to platform falsehoods and hate speech an…

Three years ago, major internet platforms including Meta, Twitter and YouTube responded to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots with decisive action — suspending thousands of accounts that had spread election lies and removing posts glorifying the attack on US democracy. and YouTube responded to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots with decisive action — suspending thousands of accounts that had spread election lies and removing posts glorifying the attack on US democracy.

The effects of that shift weren’t limited to Twitter itself, however. Musk has played an undeniable role in reducing the social and political costs of tech platforms walking back their earlier investments and commitments, said David Karpf, an associate professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University.

Last year, X announced it would begin charging steep fees for access to its firehose of posts and other data. The change immediately triggered concerns thatbut the paywall has affected civil society groups and academics who need large volumes of posts to study how false claims traverse networks.” fees for accessing Twitter’s firehose, but the complaints went nowhere. Prior to Musk, Twitter’s data was given to researchers for free or at minimal cost.

“All they keep getting is criticized,” Katie Harbath, a former policy director at Facebook, said of the tech platforms in an interview with. “I’m not saying they should get a pat on the back … but there comes a point in time where I think and other CEOs are like, is this worth the investment?” Pointing to internal Twitter communications that Musk had selectively released to a sympathetic reporter, Comer alleged a “coordinated campaign” by social media and the US government to suppress the Hunter Biden story.also showed, that what was made out to be a conspiracy to silence the New York Post was little more than internal confusion at Twitter.Republican officials did not just cast doubts on the motivations of tech platforms or the US government.

“Our ability to look at Facebook has been curtailed with CrowdTangle being shut down, so we don’t use that as much for our discovery work,” Tomson added, but “we study ads, we study TikTok, we study Telegram, we study the alt-platforms. … Changes breed creativity, and changes also create new research questions.”

Blocking that progress are a range of “enemies,” he added, ticking them off on a list: Fears of existential risk . Sustainability. Social responsibility. Trust and safety. Tech ethics. Risk management. Credentialed experts. Central planning.

 

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