With Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter, the discussion of whether and how to regulate such platforms is intensifying. “Social media and false information” Francis Fukuyama, Barak Richman, and Ashish Goel have reviewed this issue in the current issue of Foreign Affairs: “Fukuyama-How to save democracy from technology” Their review is well worth reading. They offer a new suggestion for shifting control from Facebook, Twitter, etc. to their users (us) that deserves attention.
“If regulation, breakup, data portability, and privacy law all fall short, then what remains to be done about concentrated platform power? One of the most promising solutions has received little attention: middleware. Middleware is generally defined as software that rides on top of an existing platform and can modify the presentation of underlying data…. Middleware could allow users to choose how information is curated and filtered for them. [Middleware] would step in and take over the editorial gateway functions currently filled by dominant technology platforms whose algorithms are opaque.”
There are many issues to resolve with this approach, but they should be explored. I already rely on a service that reports on the trustworthiness of news sources (does the source adhere to high journalistic standards, etc.) https://www.newsguardtech.com/. The proposed middleware would put what we see on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. in our own hands where it belongs. But, as we must never forget, our freedom produces results no better than how wisely we use it. If we chose to see only comments and articles with views we agree with, we will remain in the bubble these social media platforms already put us in.
Young people (and old) should be taught the importance of checking “other” views along with what they already believe. I am reminded of the left-wing dad who complained that his kids graduated from college with all the “right” views but having heard nothing else they were totally unable to defend any of them. “Social media and fake news”
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