How Facebook and Twitter Have Relinquished Some of Their Rights and Powers
By Lucky Okoedion
The story begins with the several allegations of invasion of privacy by the tech giants. Then it goes on to include the near absolute monopoly they seem to enjoy in the social media space as they buy out all potential competition. The dangers of any form of monopoly over the media are well documented. We travel down that dark and dangerous road of social media monopoly and arrive at the slaughter house of censorship in the guise of “company policy”. “Independent fact checkers” are the butchers in this slaughter house. Freedom of expression and freedom of information are the casualties while “promoting security in the society” is the excuse for the wanton massacre of civil liberties. Does it sound familiar ?
The controversies about facebook fact checkers for example, who decide what is true, false, fact or fiction on facebook is partly discussed in this story on CNN website. Many do not realize that these tech giants do not have the rights and powers that they now wield so irresponsibly.
Facebook and Twitter do not have the right to depend on possibly biased “independent” fact checkers to deprive the world the access to so called “fake news”. Placing the disputes side by side with the so called fake news and allowing the people to choose what to believe is the only democratic way to combat fake news. I encourage big Tech to have faith that the world is not made up of morons. People are able to choose between right and wrong without being censored.
But, what if the world is actually full of morons who do not know their left from their right as Facebook and Twitter assumes? Is censorship still acceptable under such circumstances?
Is there any data from history or any research to suggest that censorship reduces the spread of conspiracy theories or that it can make a country or the world a safer place? NO !!!
When your private business becomes as invasive of privacy and as powerful as Facebook and Twitter, you and the business have then automatically relinquished some of your rights to the people or public who have given you so much power through the data and content they have contributed to bequeath the power on you.
The rights and powers you now wield are no longer yours alone, your customers are now stakeholders in that power which they have given to you in trust. Otherwise, wielding that power as a private business is tantamount to abuse of power. Your finances are yours of course, but the power over information access is no longer yours alone.
So, it is slave mentality or raw foolishness for anyone to defend censorship by big Tech by saying “it is their private business, they can decide who they want on it and what message to promote”.
Lucky Okoedion is a believer of a new Nigeria where true democracy is practiced. He writes from Benin City, Nigeria. He can be reached on +2347038820118.
