{"id":741,"date":"2020-02-06T10:42:23","date_gmt":"2020-02-06T07:42:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/?p=741"},"modified":"2022-10-13T16:10:48","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T13:10:48","slug":"the-clash-between-sacha-baron-cohen-and-facebook-why-is-facebook-subject-to-different-rules-than-other-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/2020\/02\/06\/the-clash-between-sacha-baron-cohen-and-facebook-why-is-facebook-subject-to-different-rules-than-other-media\/","title":{"rendered":"The Clash Between Sacha Baron Cohen and Facebook: Why Is Facebook Subject to Different Rules than Other Media?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jaakko Dickman<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This blog post was produced as part of the course \u201cSocial Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States\u201d at the University of Turku.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is Facebook\nsimply a platform that neutrally mediates decentralized information created by\nits users or is it something closer to a publishing company? This issue has\nbeen central to the debate on the need to regulate Facebook and other social\nnetworking sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The debate\nhas further intensified after the reported Russian interference in the 2016 U.S.\nPresidential Election and after the live streaming of the Christchurch mosque\nshootings. Actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is the latest to criticize Facebook\nand offer his thoughts on the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his\naward speech for the ADL International Leadership Award, Cohen strongly\ncriticized social networking sites (SNSs) for compromising democratic ideals\nand promoting hate and violence. He stated that \u201con the internet, everything\ncan appear equally legitimate\u201d and that this is dismantling our understanding\nof shared objective facts that are fundamental to a functioning democracy.\nCohen concluded his speech by declaring that \u201cit is time to finally call these\ncompanies what they really are: largest publishers in history.\u201d[i]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the\nheart of Cohen\u2019s speech is the idea that SNSs \u201cshould abide by basic standards\nand practices,\u201d[ii]<\/a>\nas do traditional media outlets such as newspapers and TV news. Thus, they\nshould be considered as publishers. To this day, SNSs have evaded\nresponsibility over their content by stating that they are simply platforms that\nmediate content and thus not liable for the content they host. This indemnity\nis solidified by the US Communications Act of 1996, which gave an almost\ncomplete autonomy for SNSs to regulate themselves (Flew & al 2019, 38).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, one could argue that the nature of networked communication has changed so drastically that the new SNSs have outgrown the legislation. Furthermore, the growing interference and curatorial work done by the SNSs has made their \u2018neutral platform\u2019 nature questionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is\nobvious that Facebook, among other SNSs, is not a neutral mediator of networked\ncommunication. One of the clearest examples of this came in 2016 when Facebook\u2019s\n\u201cTrending Review Guidelines\u201d were leaked to the press. The guidelines revealed\nhow Facebook\u2019s news operation is perpetrated by human intervention similar to\ntraditional media organizations.[iii]<\/a>\nStill, we have seen that the self-regulative practices of SNSs have not been\neffective enough to tackle the spreading of violence, hate speech, and\npolitical interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Without acknowledging the new pressures to\nregulate these sites in a new cultural, political, societal, and technological\nenvironment, these companies will not be held accountable for their\nshortcomings. So, what is holding us back from insisting that these sites are,\nin fact, publishers of content and from enforcing governmental regulation on\nthem?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays,\nwhen social media companies are operating globally, nation-specific regulation\nmight cause SNSs such as Facebook to become scattered, with different content\navailable in different parts of the world. Flew, Martin, and Suzor state that\nthis type of a \u201cglobal Splinternet\u201d might have a negative impact on the free\nflow of information that has epitomized the period after mid-1990s (Flew &\nal., 46). As asserted by the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg in his speech at\nGeorgetown University, social media has become \u201cthe Fifth Estate\u201d that allows\npeople all over the world to express themselves.[iv]<\/a>\nThe power to give voice to people living under brutal political regimes is a\nfeature that we do not want to take away from SNSs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Presently,\nthe biggest internet companies are regulating the flow of information unelected\nand without accountability. According to Cohen, this constitutes ideological\nimperialism.[v]<\/a> The\nmore SNSs take part in \u201cmonitoring, regulating and deleting content\u201d the more\ndire is the need for public accountability (Flew & al., 45). However,\ninstead of traditional nation-specific legislature, the ability to regulate\nthis new digital environment seems to call for active involvement of global\nregulative bodies. Nevertheless, the new role of SNSs and their power to\ndictate the flow of information requires new regulative approaches and ideas as\ntheir counterforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bibliography:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-Defamation\nLeague YouTube, ADL International Leadership Award Presented to Sacha Baron\nCohen at Never Is Now 2019, <https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM&t=24s<\/a>> (Accessed Dec 8th<\/sup> 2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Flew,\nTerry, Martin, Fiona, & Suzor, Nicolas (2019) “Internet Regulation As\nMedia Policy: Rethinking the Question of Digital Communication Platform\nGovernance.” Journal of Digital Media & Policy 10, no. 1: 33, 33\u201350.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thielman,\nSam (2016) \u201dFacebook news selection is in hands\nof editors not algorithms, documents show.\u201d The Guardian. <https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2016\/may\/12\/facebook-trending-news-leaked-documents-editor-guidelines<\/a>> (Accessed Dec 8th<\/sup> 2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Washington\nPost YouTube, Watch live: Facebook CEO Zuckerberg speaks at Georgetown\nUniversity, <https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2MTpd7YOnyU&t=2777s<\/a>> (Accessed Dec 8th<\/sup> 2019)
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[i]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM&t=20s<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[ii]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM&t=20s<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[iii]<\/a> https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2016\/may\/12\/facebook-trending-news-leaked-documents-editor-guidelines<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[iv]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2MTpd7YOnyU&t=2777s<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[v]<\/a> https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ymaWq5yZIYM&t=20s<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jaakko Dickman This blog post was produced as part of the course \u201cSocial Media, Ideologies, and Ethics in the United States\u201d at the University of Turku. Is Facebook simply a platform that neutrally mediates decentralized information created by its users or is it something closer to a publishing company? This issue has been central to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-students-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":747,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/741\/revisions\/747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/trage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}