Facebook could face a “Big Tobacco”



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Facebook executives have been criticized for choosing profit over health, making comparisons with Big Tobacco. On “Reliable Sources” Sunday, CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter asked if this scandal was any different from others the tech company has faced.

“Is it safe for someone in their thirties to have so much undisputed influence over an institution like this?” James Fallows, author of “Breaking the News” and contributor to Atlantic, asked “Reliable Sources” on Sunday.

“Their senior politician covers the Sunday broadcasts,” said Sara Fischer, Axios media reporter, of several interviews with Facebook’s head of global communications Nick Clegg. “It never happens.”

Facebook shares have fallen more than 12% since early September, signaling a “change in reputation” for the company.

“I never see action plunge in such a prolonged way like this in response to this kind of policy news,” Fischer said.

As he has done in previous interviews, Clegg has denied that Facebook has any responsibility in inciting or promoting the January 6 insurgency on the United States Capitol.

An internal Facebook memo leaked to Buzzfeed in April revealed how the company failed to stop a “Stop the Steal” group from undermining the 2020 presidential election results and promoting the January 6 riot.

On CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday show, Clegg claimed that removing the algorithms would spread more misinformation and hatred.

“Since we have thousands of algorithms and millions of people using it, I can’t give you a yes or no answer to the individual personalized feeds that each person uses,” said Clegg.

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Clegg hinted that Facebook (FB) could be open to legislation requiring parental consent for children under 16 to use social media, saying there is “nothing more important than our children.”

“If lawmakers want to set rules for us and for TikTok and for Youtube and for Twitter on exactly how young people should operate online, of course we will obey the law,” Clegg said. “I think it’s fair that this is a topic of great interest and bipartisan discussion.”

Clegg also said he supports regulations that would allow access to company algorithms and an amendment to Section 230, which protects social media companies from liability for content on their platforms.

“You can’t conceive of a regulation that intervenes in real time in the way that human beings interact every millisecond of the day with this multitude of algorithms,” said Clegg, “but I think in terms of transparency, of course, Yes.”

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Reform or elimination of Section 230 protections has been the subject of debate as the Biden administration tackles disinformation on these platforms.

“The way to perhaps change section 230, my suggestion, would be to make this protection, which is afforded to online businesses like Facebook, contingent on the enforcement of systems and their policies as they are. supposed to do it, ”Clegg said. “And if they don’t, then they would see that liability protection taken away.”

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