Expert Says Facebook Should Be “Held Responsible” For Violence At U.S. Capitol

The ramifications from last week’s storming of the U.S. Capitol are still being felt across the country — and big tech companies like Facebook and Twitter are no exception. Many experts and political leaders are increasingly blaming social media platforms for not doing enough to stem the tide of misinformation and hate speech. What’s more, Facebook was actually used as a tool to organize and carry out the rally and subsequent riot. That’s why some prominent experts, including a former adviser to president Obama, are calling for Facebook to be held responsible.

“I think [tech companies] are, in large part culpable for all the harm, all the hate, all the death that we saw yesterday,” Dipayan Ghosh, co-director of the Harvard Kennedy School Digital Platforms & Democracy Project, told Yahoo. “To get it back under control, we need to put not the commercial interests of companies like Facebook as the objective for these algorithms, but rather the public interest, what we want to see, [and] what is socially acceptable political speech.”

Facebook and Twitter took the dramatic step of banning president Trump following his incitement of the riot. However, that still doesn’t address the root cause of why Facebook allows such obviously criminal activity to flourish in the first place.




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