Zuckerberg: We Hate\/Love\/Pay You<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mark Zuckerberg changed our world. His prodigy-like brilliance; developing the basic structure of social media while still in college, has altered our lives. Before Facebook<\/em>, there were other internet interactions like My Space<\/em>, but Zuckerberg\u2019s algorithms changed everything. Today, 2.1 billion, almost a third of the world, use Facebook<\/em> or one of their \u201capps,\u201d every, single, day. Facebook <\/em>has absorbed seventy-five different companies, including Instagram<\/em> and Whats App.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lots of folks claim they have changed the world \u2013 from the inventor of \u201cmy pillow<\/em>\u201d to Walt Disney. But no one has a stronger claim than Zuckerberg: his is an American invention that the entire world uses. Facebook<\/em> has helped organize revolutions, found lost family members (and dogs, millions of dogs) and raised money for great causes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Emerson said, \u201cbuild a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.\u201d I\u2019m sure that Emerson meant that people would \u201cbeat a path;\u201d he probably didn\u2019t mean the mice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the dilemma of Facebook<\/em>. It is a primary means of communication for many, and, it is how many of you read my essays. But it is a mousetrap as well. We are the mice, toying with Facebook<\/em>, trying to get our cheese without getting caught. But we all get caught, Facebook<\/em> takes us: our profiles, our choices, our information; and turns it into money, money for Zuckerberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I am a capitalist. I believe that Zuckerberg has earned the right to his wealth; his \u201cmousetrap\u201d was the best. But like any trapper, he bears some responsibility for those caught in his snare. A mousetrap snaps: a mouse gets caught by the leg. The \u201csetter\u201d of the trap has three choices: free the mouse, kill the mouse, or allow the mouse to suffer. Zuckerberg has let us suffer so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n His \u201cFacebook<\/em>\u201d has lured almost a third of the world into the trap. Like the mice, we wanted the cheese, but didn\u2019t know about the \u201csnap.\u201d Now, we are all ensnared, giving up more than we get. And Zuckerberg has learned how to sell what we give, and manipulate what we see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Others have too, some as inventive as the prodigy himself, and Facebook<\/em> has been \u201cturned.\u201d It is now a mousetrap beating it\u2019s own path. Russian intelligence manipulation of Facebook<\/em> wasn\u2019t the first, and probably isn\u2019t the most effective. Ideological forces from all sides have found a voice and an audience on the platform. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If they were just stating their views, posting manifestos and statements, then we \u201cmice\u201d could discriminate and determine truth from falsity, and love from hate. But if that were true, then Facebook<\/em> would look like my \u201cblog.\u201d Instead, using the same powers that sold us toothpaste, high-powered automobiles and the Chia Plant<\/em>, good and bad actors on Facebook<\/em> are manipulating our \u201cuniverse of knowledge.\u201d We no longer have a \u201ctruth.\u201d Each side gets to create its own \u201ctruth,\u201d and puts it on Facebook<\/em> as fact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can no longer dialogue with those opposed to us, because we don\u2019t begin with a common basis in fact. Mr. Zuckerberg, that is your fault. You built the trap, just because you lost control of it, doesn\u2019t mean you dodge responsibility for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is time to use that remarkable mind to re-think \u201cthe platform,\u201d even if in re-thinking you might acquire less profit. Facebook<\/em> tells us lies; about history, about people, about our acquaintances, and about our leaders. While Mark Zuckerberg takes no responsibility for those falsehoods, claiming that he is only \u201cproviding a microphone in the public square;\u201d the fact that he is that he has given anyone a chance to use that \u201cmicrophone,\u201d and it is his, one that communicates to the entire world. It all creates a \u201cduty of care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has a \u201cduty of care\u201d to the world, just as the \u201csetter\u201d of the mousetrap owes some duty of care to the mouse. He must accept that his \u201cplatform\u201d is now a \u201cnews\u201d medium, and must take a greater responsibility for its content. I am confident that there are technical ways of doing so; he built one mousetrap, he can improve on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He already is trying; but right now he is depending on the \u201cmice\u201d to police the trap for him. Last week a \u201cFacebook<\/em> acquaintance\u201d broke up with his girlfriend, and posted the most hateful and libelous statements, about her life, and her profession, and her morality. I \u201creported\u201d it to Facebook<\/em>, and within the hour it was gone. Score one for the mice!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But that doesn\u2019t resolve the problem of ascertaining the \u201ctruth.\u201d The powers at Facebook<\/em> are still determined to avoid those decisions, as it would require them to \u201coffend\u201d someone, and maybe lose their information, the saleable portion of their contact with the platform. But that\u2019s the literal price they may need to pay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zuckerberg will cry out, \u201cIf we allow that in the US, then the must allow it in China, and Russia, and the other authoritarian nations of the world. By restricting \u2018information\u2019 we will be giving license to censorship everywhere.\u201d It\u2019s a good argument, but it\u2019s too late. The authoritarians of the world have already figured out how to restrict, control, and shutdown social media, Facebook<\/em> included. Last week was the thirtieth anniversary of the Chinese government\u2019s massacre of protestors on TiananmenSquare. But there was no mention of it on social media in China, in fact, the term was banned from Chinese internet. So, if Zuckerberg won\u2019t do it here; if he won\u2019t be \u201cpolice\u201d as well as \u201ctrapper,\u201d then it will be up to the Government to step in and show him the way. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It isn\u2019t what government\u2019s best at, but it\u2019s definitely better than no controls at all. The European Union has already started. Mr. Zuckerberg, your chance is now, or Congress, clueless octogenarians and all, will do it for you. It\u2019s your trap, fix it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"