PC Magazine - USA (2021-02)

mail from her desk, used Facebook to urge people

WR'&RQ-DQ³7KLVLV285&28175<&DQ

you give one day from the Internet or work or whatever to be active. Get

WKHIXSSHRSOH3OHDVH67$1',IQRWQRZZKHQ" ́KHZURWH

according to The Washington Post.

In response to mild restrictions on speech that ran afoul of mainstream

social media platforms’ policies, alt-right alternatives like Gab, Parler,

and TheDonald.win have taken up the mantle of hate speech. But there

LVDOVRHQRXJKYHQRPRXVVSHZWR¿OO)DFHERRNJURXSVDQGSUROLIHUDWHRQ

7ZLWWHUGHVSLWHGDLO\FDOOVIRU-DFN'RUVH\WR³EDQWKH1D]LV ́

The attack on the Capitol should serve as a wake-up call for many things,

but particularly for the aid social media has given to hate movements in

the United States and elsewhere. Banning one individual, even when

he’s the President, is not enough.

7KHIDLOXUHRIWHFK&(2VWRWDNHDFWLRQUHVXOWHGLQSHRSOHZHDULQJ

³&DPS$XVFKZLW] ́KRRGLHVEUHDNLQJLQWRWKH&DSLWRODQGSDUDGLQJ

WKURXJKLWVKDOOVFDUU\LQJ&RQIHGHUDWHÀDJV7KRVHLPDJHVDUHWKH,5/

culmination of what has passed for discourse on social media for far too

ORQJ2QO\DIWHUWKHHYHQWVRI-DQXDU\GLG)DFHERRNUHPRYHSRVWVZLWK

VWRUPWKHFDSLWRODKDVKWDJ\RXFRXOGVWLOO¿QGDOORYHU7ZLWWHUDV,

wrote this.

Social media comes with social responsibility, and those in charge of

these platforms have abdicated theirs. While terrorists use these sites for

WKLQJVOLNHSORWWLQJWKHNLGQDSSLQJRI0LFKLJDQ¶VJRYHUQRU&(2VVSLQ

VWRULHVDQGSODFHWKHEODPHDQGVRPHWLPHVSUDLVHRQWKHDUWL¿FLDO

intelligence tasked with monitoring terms-of-service violations. It is

well past time for them to come to terms with what this has wrought

on humanity.

[email protected]

C

h

a

n

d

r

a

S

t

e

e

l

e

@ChanSteele

PC MAGAZINE DIGITAL EDITION (^) I SUBSCRIBE (^) I FEBRUARY 2021