Name: Fight for the Future, defending our basic rights and freedoms
Brand: fightforthefuture.org
SKU: fightforthefuture-org-1
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Fight for the Future, defending our basic rights and freedoms

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Posted March 10, 2020, 2:23 PM Networked technology has the power to expand our democracy and give more people a say than ever before. The Internet has given an urgently needed megaphone to young people organizing to stop climate change and movements working to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. But over the last decade we’ve witnessed how this same power can be used to voices, opinion, and our basic rights at a mass&nbsp;scale.As the US approaches an election that will shape the future of our nation, there’s an increasing focus on the role that companies like Facebook and Google play in our information ecosystem. The Internet is becoming more and more . Silicon Valley giants have amassed unprecedented power to influence public opinion and control the free flow of ideas. And their monopolistic business models make it possible to weaponize that power in ways we are only beginning to understand.While concerns about big platform’s privacy and content moderation practices have been growing for years, they reached a boiling point with the Cambridge Analytica scandal. But did we learn anything?People were rightfully outraged by Cambridge Analytica’s scheme to use misappropriated personal data to micro-target and manipulate individual voters. But the real scandal is that aside from misusing data, Cambridge Analytica was essentially using Facebook as it is designed to be&nbsp;used.Facebook has built the greatest platform in the history of the world for influencing human behavior on a massive scale. Simply put, Facebook ads are too effective. Most of the time the stakes are low, people might be persuaded to buy something they don’t need or use an inferior laundry detergent. But when it comes to political advertising, the very foundations of democracy and a free society are at risk. That is why we need to insist on more significant, systemic changes to how these ads&nbsp;work.Cambridge Analytica showed us how the enormous amount of data that social media companies vacuum up can be used not just to invade our privacy, but to how we think. But since then, public discussion has focused mostly on speech itself, rather than on the data harvesting and that turns speech into a&nbsp;weapon.Instead, we should focus on the underlying, systemic problems. Platforms can and should be held accountable for business practices that are fundamentally with democracy and human rights. But the details matter. Platforms need to listen to the experiences of marginalized people when crafting their moderation and ads policies.From the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) to we’ve seen too many times how misguided tech policy decisions can backfire, and harm the that lawmakers and policy wonks say they’re trying to protect. But it’s also not enough to say “hands off the Internet,” at a time when it’s clear that Silicon Valley giants are that mentality to profit off of abusive practices. So what should we be calling&nbsp;for?There is no one silver bullet policy that will fix everything that’s wrong with the Internet or prevent the spread of hate speech and misinformation. Many proposals we’ve seen, from both and , are deeply misguided and would lead to the widespread censorship of marginalized voices, or other adverse&nbsp;effects.Here are some ideas that we think might work, in the interest of expanding the conversation about content moderation. We propose that instead of playing “whack-a-mole,” calling out platforms over specific accounts or posts they allow, we should take a more systemic approach to platform accountability, and call&nbsp;for:We don’t have all the answers. But we hope these ideas will help the civil society community brainstorm. For more of our thoughts on this, check out our deputy director Evan Greer did with the folks over at&nbsp;EFF. Share on: For press inquiries, please contact us at:orFor donation information, please email:All other inquiries, contact:No copyright intended!

Posted March 10, 2020, 2:23 PM Networked technology has the power to expand our democracy and give more people a say than ever before. The Internet has given an urgently needed megaphone to young people organizing to stop climate change and movements working to hold powerful people and institutions accountable. But over the last decade we’ve witnessed how this same power can be used to voices, opinion, and our basic rights at a mass&nbsp;scale.As the US approaches an election that will shape the future of our nation, there’s an increasing focus on the role that companies like Facebook and...

Fight for the Future, defending our basic rights and freedoms

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