Video
Description and Connection
In the instructions for this assignment, Professor Meek included a few example of videos that would make good sources for this assignment. One of them was an ABC clip from 2013 discussing the exciting potential of social media sites for increasing the reach and accessibility of political speech. It is full of jokes about referring to people by their usernames and the somewhat endearing Twitter oversharing of elderly senator Chuck Grassley. It suggests a world in which social media allows more people to become involved in politics. The video I have selected for this assignment is from 2019, a mere six years later, and illustrates how much social media’s relationship with political speech has changed in that time. In the video Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez questions Facebook (now Meta) CEO Mark Zuckerberg on his companies policies regarding political speech and content moderation on its platforms. The hearing this video is from was intended to investigate how targeted advertisements, algorithm-served content, and misinformation on social media were effecting political culture. Ocasio-Cortez asks if Facebook will fact check political advertisements or otherwise restrict the spread of disinformation, to which Zuckerberg gives a series of contradictory and noncommittal answers. In the three years since, this concern has become even more important, and neither social media companies nor government have come up with a solution. In 2019, widespread election denialism and political violence were nightmare hypotheticals; a year and a half later they were reality, and the spread of misinformation on social media was partly to blame.
This is an issue of free speech, one of the most important concepts of our political culture. It requires us to balance the right to free speech against the known societal harms of misinformation. The spread of misinformation on social media can falsely destroy the credibility of individuals and organizations, cause violence, be weaponized by foreign powers, and send normal people down conspiracy theory rabbit holes. On the other hand, any regulation of speech is a slippery slope towards censorship, especially in the political sphere. The only thing that I think nearly every one can agree on is that the social media companies cannot be trusted to manage this issue by themselves.
Discussion Questions
- Do you think the right to free speech (specifically to say things that aren’t true) applies differently to politicians than it does to regular people? What about to anonymous accounts? Do you think it applies differently to political speech than to other speech?
- Do you think social media platforms are going too far in restricting misinformation? Not far enough? Doing just the right amount?
- Social media has dramatically changed the way politicians interact with their supporters. Before, politicians would communicate through televised speeches and interviews with the press, and at campaign events. But on social media, politicians can communicate with their supporters almost constantly, and supporters can get the feeling of communicating back by liking and commenting on posts. Do you think this parasocial interaction is a major reason why modern politicians are so successful at convincing their supporters to believe things that aren’t true?
- Under current laws, social media companies are not responsible for the content posted on their platforms. Do you think this is right?
- Last week a man in Michigan shot his wife, daughter, and dog multiple times in their home before being killed by police. The wife and dog died, and the daughter was critically wounded. His other daughter, who was not home at the time, told the Detroit News that he was a wonderful, loving dad until 2020, when he started reading election denial stories on social media. From there “he started going down the Q[anon] rabbit hole. He kept reading conspiracy theories about the stolen election, Trump, vaccines, etc.” She believes social media misinformation was the cause of this horrible tragedy. Do you think the people who post this misinformation or the platforms who carry it and who’s algorithms sometimes promote it bear responsibility? (Source:https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oaklandcounty/2022/09/11/walled-lake-man-killed-police-after-killing-wife-shooting-daughter/8058356001/)
Evaluation
I did enjoy this assignment because it gave me an opportunity to think in depth about how a modern issue connects to our longstanding political culture. It took me a long time because, as with any persuasive writing assignment, I rewrote every part of it several times, but I would encourage you to continue using it in the future.