Linked: How Facebook and Twitter’s Content Moderation Could Open a Legal ‘Pandora’s Box’

I would tend to agree with this statement, because it all started with the algorithm, the point where all of these platforms took it upon themselves to decide what to show you.

““The more extensive you make the guidelines, the more selectively you enforce them, the more discretion you start to exercise over your platform, you start to move away from what seems like a platform and more like what looks like a publisher,” Bilinsky said.

That move is what has put Section 230 up for debate — and has put companies like Facebook, Twitter and Google in increased danger. Without their current protections, these companies are looking at bloated legal fees and the potential abandonment of the user-generated content that helped build them up in the first place.”

Remember, Section 230 was put in place so that the internet could thrive and be built upon user-generated content. It’s the rule that allows for me to blog without my hosting provider or my ISP being liable for everything I say, while still allowing them the freedom to choose not to do business with me if they deem my content too far out of bounds. Its what allows me to make my own decisions about comments on my blog without worrying about someone saying something that isn’t true. It’s what allows all of us to tweet, or post, without having to run it by the censors first. The legal responsibility is on the person posting it, not the website it was posted on. But that is changing.

The thing is, back when you could log onto any of these platforms, and you’d see a timeline consisting of everything shared, in chronological order, of just the accounts you decided to follow, there wasn’t a lot of cries for or against censorship. The platforms were self-censored by each user. Everything you saw, in one way or another, you chose to see. and you could change that anytime you wanted by not following any account.

But that, of course, wasn’t enough. That didn’t generate a ton of engagement, which in turn, didn’t lead to a ton of eyeballs on ads, which limited the amount of ad money coming in.

That wouldn’t do, but perhaps by constantly tweaking what people see, and encouraging more interaction, the giant tech companies may have destined themselves to failure.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/facebook-twitter-content-moderation-could-160000843.html

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