Absolute Authority on Censoring Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg controls three core communications platforms – Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Billions of people use these social media platforms every day. Facebook’s board works more like an advisory committee than an overseer because Zuckerberg controls around 60 percent of voting shares. This means he has the majority control.

Facebook is Marks world and we are just living in it.

Zuckerberg alone can decide how to configure Facebook’s algorithms to determine what people see in their News Feeds. He also decides what privacy settings they can use and even which messages get delivered. He sets the rules for how to distinguish violent and incendiary speech from the merely offensive, and he can shut down a competitor by acquiring, blocking or copying it.

Co-founder of Facebook Chris Hughes says, “It is time to break-up with Facebook. Mark is a good, kind person. But I’m angry that his focus on growth led him to sacrifice security and civility for clicks. I’m disappointed in myself and the early Facebook team for not thinking more about how the News Feed algorithm could change our culture, influence elections and empower nationalist leaders. And I’m worried that Mark has surrounded himself with a team that reinforces his beliefs instead of challenging them.”

The Battle to Regulate the Public Square

Hughes is the latest in a series of prominent entrepreneurs and tech executives to call for stricter regulation of Facebook and other online platforms. On April 24th Facebook braced for a massive fine from the Federal Trade Commission after a year of data privacy scandals. The FTC chairman seems to have the votes to approve a settlement.

One of the biggest issues has been whether to hold Mark Zuckerberg liable for future violations. It discloses that an ongoing investigation from the FTC could result in fines ranging from $3 billion to $5 billion. Facebook sets aside $3 billion in legal expenses, (not the fine) which cuts into its profit for the first three months of 2019. This is going to hurt bigly, and it should.

Mark Zuckerberg is a hypocrite. He has banned “dangerous” conservatives Alex Jones, Laura Loomer, and Milo Yiannopoulous, but has refused to fix the algorithms that allow people to live stream murders, suicides and rapes. What once began as a revolutionary way for people to connect around the world has now turned into a platform for corruption and crime.

Remember how cool it was when we found friends we never thought we would hear from or see again? Connecting with new friends on the other side of the world? Finding a lost sibling or biological parent became so much easier. Perhaps the money really changed Zuckerberg. We are seeing what the love of money can do to a person.



The Life Changing Effects of Social Media Addiction

Picking up our smartphones every few minutes has become almost an addiction for a good majority of the population. It has gotten to the point where phones are now alerting us weekly of our screen time percentage. It is time to get help and go private once again. The social media madness has faded years later, and being an “influencer” should too. Additionally, we need to start seeing ourselves as the role model we want our kids to see.

Facebook and other social media sites are considered private companies and cannot legally be held accountable for banning people based on their conservative views. However, what Mark Zuckerberg “thinks” is not the only voice in the world. It is, however, the only voice he wants you to hear on his platforms. This is where billions of minds are being controlled and half of them do not even know it. No debates, no free thinking, no conservative views. Facebook is Marks world and we are just living in it.

No Accountability for a Dominating Social Network

Because Facebook so dominates social networking, it faces no market-based accountability. This means that every time Facebook messes up, we repeat an exhausting pattern: first outrage, then disappointment and, finally, resignation. Congress needs to create laws that keep our Constitution intact and hold these special social media tech companies accountable for pushing their political agenda. America was built on the idea that power should not be concentrated in any one person because we are all fallible.

That’s why the founders created a system of checks and balances. They did not need to foresee the rise of Facebook to understand the threat that gargantuan companies would pose to democracy. Like fashion repeats itself, let’s go back to being more private and less hands-on with the phone. We should do this especially when we are driving and when our children need our attention. We all can be reminded of this.

