Zuckerberg gave a a public address on Facebook Live regarding Russian interference.
“Facebook’s mission is all about giving people a voice and bringing people closer together. Those are deeply democratic values, and we’re proud of them. I don’t want anyone to use our tools to undermine democracy. That’s not what we stand for.”
Too Big to Control?
It appears that tech companies and the government are behind the curve regarding the problems facing social media and disinformation. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mark Warner have officially called for legislation governing online political advertising in an attempt to regain control.
The proposed laws would require tech companies to keep public records of political ad buys in excess of $10,000. It is speculated that Russian actors spent $100,000 on 3,000 ads on Facebook during the campaign.
Regulating online advertising is a modest step. However it underscores a larger problem of fake news and propaganda being user-driven across social media without the purchase of ad space. How Facebook and other companies will attempt to control billions of social media discussions is anyone’s guess.
