Unless you were living under a rock, you know that the last Presidential Election had enough disinformation campaigns or "fake news" to go around. Therefore, actions are being taken to prevent the same thing from happening in the upcoming 2020 election.
Facebook, Microsoft, Google, and Twitter met with officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and the office of the Director of National Intelligence on Wednesday, September 3rd, to discuss strategies on preventing disinformation campaigns. Microsoft is already partnered with a company named, NewsGuard, to fight the spread of disinformation.
Could this go too far?
When reading about the extreme caution that these huge tech companies are taking to prevent disinformation on the internet, I kept thinking that this sounds like a very slippery slope.
The FBI is actively looking for fake accounts and disinformation campaigns, alerting Facebook when they pop up, leading to accounts getting shutdown. If it's that easy for the FBI to get an account removed or shutdown, who's to say U.S. Officials won't corrupt that power and ask them to shutdown accounts unfairly?
This question brings me to the First Amendment, specifically the Freedom of Speech. What classifies an account or campaign as "disinformation"? Imagine if I started a huge campaign about how I think President Trump is purposely ignoring the issues of Climate Change because he hopes that the natural disasters will help regulate over-population. Crazy, I know. But there are crazy people out there, and they have the right to share their crazy ideas.
So, if the FBI saw my campaign about Trump and Climate Change and deemed it disinformation, would they have the right to shut down my account?? If they do, then I believe that goes against my rights to free speech.
Unfortunately, I would not put it past our government to whisper in the FBI's ear, and tell them to shut down accounts that are just a thorn in their side.
As we get closer and closer to the election, we need to keep our eyes peeled for any mysterious account shutdowns and make sure the FBI isn't silencing anyone unjustly.
Support the crazies!
Xoxo
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Could this go too far?
When reading about the extreme caution that these huge tech companies are taking to prevent disinformation on the internet, I kept thinking that this sounds like a very slippery slope.
The FBI is actively looking for fake accounts and disinformation campaigns, alerting Facebook when they pop up, leading to accounts getting shutdown. If it's that easy for the FBI to get an account removed or shutdown, who's to say U.S. Officials won't corrupt that power and ask them to shutdown accounts unfairly?
This question brings me to the First Amendment, specifically the Freedom of Speech. What classifies an account or campaign as "disinformation"? Imagine if I started a huge campaign about how I think President Trump is purposely ignoring the issues of Climate Change because he hopes that the natural disasters will help regulate over-population. Crazy, I know. But there are crazy people out there, and they have the right to share their crazy ideas.
So, if the FBI saw my campaign about Trump and Climate Change and deemed it disinformation, would they have the right to shut down my account?? If they do, then I believe that goes against my rights to free speech.
Unfortunately, I would not put it past our government to whisper in the FBI's ear, and tell them to shut down accounts that are just a thorn in their side.
As we get closer and closer to the election, we need to keep our eyes peeled for any mysterious account shutdowns and make sure the FBI isn't silencing anyone unjustly.
Support the crazies!
Xoxo
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