The social media giants Twitter and Facebook face criticism as the US election proceeds to its final days and come near the officially announced results. The critics think that these companies failed to take prompt actions in regulating the types of statements posted on these forums, which created confusion and misled the followers.
As elections unfold, the results varied immensely with each passing day. In such situations, social media forums like Twitter and Facebook played a huge role in delivering the messages of republican as well as democratic heads to their followers.
Among these messages were Donald Trump’s statements about possible voter fraud during these elections and the speculations of whether the mailed-in ballots were authentic or not.
While most nations and institutions stated that the elections were authentic and there was indeed no fraud found, some were wary of such statements’ implications.
All in all, these social media forums became the central battleground for both the opposites to state what they felt like, and the regulations became very difficult. However, these companies’ responsibility is to make sure that the statements posted on these forums stay within the guidelines of social conduct and not harm the country’s integrity.
Democrats are livid over trump’s statements about the election fraud and how the claims are being called disputed.
Judiciary Republicans are contemplating whether the tech companies should have a right to amend such statements or block them at all.
The CEOs have been examined twice in the past three weeks over confusion arising from the mismanagement and lack of regulations for the statements posted online.
However, Section 230 comes to rescue these companies as it clarifies that the social media platforms are not responsible for the comments and ads posted on these sites.
The elected president Joe Biden has suggested revoking the section to prevent regulations from being implemented on these forums. The statements posted on these forums cause the spread of confusion and falsehood, and the Democratic senators followed his lead in the latest hearing.
Republicans, on the other hand, are not satisfied with the performance of these companies either. They said that the companies have been making decisions for them and regulating their content on the sites.
They said that these companies are not the publishers of the information. Instead, just the distributors. They also claimed that Facebook and Twitter should not be covered under Section 230 as it is right now.
“Federal law gave you the ability to stand up and grow without being hit by lawsuits,” said Blackburn, a Republican Senator.
“You have used this power to run amok.” He further stated.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, also said: “When you have companies that have the power of governments, have more power than traditional media outlets, something has to give.”
The two CEOs defended their platforms while the US elections continue to divide the nation. Twitter’s Mr. Dorsey said that the forum has been wrong in blocking Biden’s son Hunter’s investigation report, a link to a controversial New York Post article. He further said that the event made them realize that they need a revision to post articles.
“I hope this… demonstrates our ability to take feedback, admit mistakes and make all changes transparently to the public,” he said
We strengthened our enforcement against militias and conspiracy networks like QAnon to prevent them from using our system to organize violence or civil unrest,” Mr. Zuckerberg said in his defense against the claims.
He pointed out how the claims against Facebook were not genuine as they have started removing posts that promote malicious comments and violent behaviors.
Ted Cruz, a Republican senator, asked Twitter why they flagged any post pointing towards voter fraud. He replied with his statement regarding how they are linking people to the conversation. Ted Cruz did not accept the explanation and responded with a stern message in return.
He said, “No you’re not. You’re putting up a page that says ‘voter fraud of any kind is exceedingly rare in the United States’. That’s not linking to a broader conversation. That’s taking a disputed policy position.”
The screening went on for several hours, and all the claims were examined with a keen eye.
I’m Ava Paul, an experienced news website author with a special focus on the entertainment section. Over the past five years, I have worked in various positions of media and communication at World Stock Market. My experience has given me extensive knowledge in writing, editing, researching and reporting on stories related to the entertainment industry.
