Technology and humans, in general, do not always work well together. However, if there is one aspect of humanity that works even less well with technological innovation, its governments – who for some reason need to always try to enforce bureaucracy against a technology that is trying to avoid it. While our government is most certainly guilty of this, we often tend to take direction from some of our more established peers which is one of the reasons why I find what the US government is currently trying to do so interesting.
Yesterday the White House launched a new tool for people to use if they feel they’ve been wrongly censored, banned, or suspended on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, in Trump’s battle to try and see exactly what is going in with these leading tech companies. It’s rather a bizarre move with many countries currently looking to lock down and prevent certain posts on social media, this time we see the US government wants to ensure this sort of censorship is actually happening fairly. Something, which may initially sound like a nice idea, is clearly politically motivated. As the site reads:
Too many Americans have seen their accounts suspended, banned, or fraudulently reported for unclear ‘violations’ of user policies. No matter your views, if you suspect political bias caused such an action to be taken against you, share your story with President Trump.
Over the past few months, Republicans have taken aim at social media networks, claiming that conservatives have been wrongly censored on these platforms. Some committees, like House Energy and Commerce and Senate Judiciary, have even held hearings on the issue where lawmakers questioned officials from companies like Facebook and Twitter over the alleged bias.
I’m all for transparency and openness in social media, but trying to involve politics with corporate companies is never a good idea and it will be interesting to see how this plays out and if the social media companies are really trying to do anything malicious, or if once again, it’s just that Trump keeps believing the fake news he is fed and then complains when it gets censored elsewhere.
This is not the only big news coming from the White House yesterday though, as US President Trump has signed an executive order giving the federal government the power to block US companies from buying foreign-made telecommunications equipment deemed a national security risk. The obvious target of this order being that of Huawei who the US government has accused of installing backdoors into their equipment to spy on American networks. Something which the company has continued to deny with no evidence supporting the US government’s claims either.
While Huawei continues to grow globally as a mobile and telecoms provider, the US market is obviously massive and will have an impact on the future growth of the company. The order does seem a little knee jerk given the lack of evidence in the matter so far and flies against the usual legal channels this type of process should follow. Hopefully this is not an example we see too many other countries follow in future, otherwise, the global tech industry could be in for some interesting times ahead.
Last Updated: May 16, 2019
Magius
May 16, 2019 at 11:44
Technical point but it isn’t censorship, especially in the US. A company can make a decision as to what it does and doesn’t allow on it’s property . Censorship is generally defined as a governmental limitation on speech etc.
HvR
May 16, 2019 at 12:11
Jip their house their rules; either play by them or get out.
They should rather be looking at the different platforms from an anti-trust POV but then that goes against their own political agendas and previous promises.
Llama In The Rift
May 16, 2019 at 12:04
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e8ffaa83cc56bf63532cbd2db6bfaefffcbbe66278cefdaa46cc3596ba790045.jpg
Llama In The Rift
May 16, 2019 at 12:04
Brilliant phones though.
Dresden
May 16, 2019 at 12:11
Try to look at the matter objectively, you’ll see an obvious bias on many of those sites.
HvR
May 16, 2019 at 13:25
Sure heavy bias, but they are allowed that bias.
Dresden
May 16, 2019 at 13:41
For sure, have no issue with it. Just pointing it out to him.
Spathi
May 16, 2019 at 14:50
They aren’t allowed to be biased in enforcing their policies though.
HvR
May 16, 2019 at 15:08
Yes they are, it is a privately owned “space”.
Much like how a mall can reserve the right of admission or you can chucked someone out of your house if they piss you off.
Spathi
May 16, 2019 at 15:23
You are talking about making their own policies. Obviously they can do that. I’m talking about not enforcing those policies, depending on who the transgressor is.
Magoo
May 16, 2019 at 13:05
I find it ridiculous that people always have such staunch opinions on things that are completely over their heads. Skepticism is good but don’t you think that millions of people disagreeing with millions of other people, over something that ultimately has a factual conclusion, is absolutely bonkers?
For example, the USA government’s claims on Hauwei. They either are “spying” on US networks, or they are not. There is one answer that nobody actually has, but everyone will advocate their opinion as fact.
Magoo
May 16, 2019 at 13:05
I find it ridiculous that people always have such staunch opinions on things that are completely over their heads. Skepticism is good but don’t you think that millions of people disagreeing with millions of other people, over something that ultimately has a factual conclusion, is absolutely bonkers?
For example, the USA government’s claims on Hauwei. They either are “spying” on US networks, or they are not. There is one answer that nobody actually has, but everyone will advocate their opinion as fact.