In upstate New York, a congressman launched a bill that seeks that the companies behind social networks can be held responsible for the misinformation and false news that are distributed through their platforms.
This bill was proposed by State Senator Brad Hoylman of the Democratic Party. Hoylman assures that “real solutions” are needed to combat the problem of fake news, misinformation and hate speech that swarm on social networks. “Some people’s lives are in danger and no one is responsible,” he said.
Hoylman believes that something can be done to prevent social media companies from further facilitating the spread of harmful speech, which is often convenient for those companies because of the amount of revenue they generate.
Hate speech. Anti-vaxx lies. Eating disorders.
We know that algorithms written by social media platforms prioritize these messages.
That’s why I’ve introduced legislation to hold platforms liable for hate & amp; lies their algorithms promote.
https://t.co/2QCqKrneoJ @bern_hogan& mdash; Senator Brad Hoylman (@bradhoylman) December 27, 2021
But according to experts, this project is unlikely to materialize in a law as such. And this because what Brad Hoylman proposes to regulate is, precisely, under the umbrella of the first amendment of the United States constitution, according to what it reports The New York Post.
According to Eric Goldman, a law professor at the University of Santa Clara in California, the bill “seeks to restrict the dissemination of content protected by the constitution” and is therefore unconstitutional. On the other hand, it can often be difficult to distinguish when content is really harmful or seeks to misinform, especially in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, according to attorney David Greene of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
As this project progresses, the companies behind Facebook and Twitter are making their own efforts to moderate the content that users post, including using artificial intelligence algorithms.
Editor’s Recommendations
es.digitaltrends.com