In an attempt to get closer to the new administration, Meta is changing its approach to moderation on Facebook and Instagram, allowing more space for freedom of expression, but thereby potentially endangering basic civilizational values.
Meta Company, within which the social networks Facebook and feed, announced that it is changing its policy of moderating user posts in the direction of less control, i.e. greater freedom of expression. This was announced by the first man of the company, Mark Zuckerberg, and his statement was followed by comments that in the previous months, especially after the November elections in the USA, he did a lot to get closer to the future administration of Donald Trump. This move is seen by many as just another step on that path, although this one is measured in miles.
Visiting podcaster Joe Rogan a few days ago, Zuckerberg spent a good part of the nearly three-hour conversation explaining that turn in company policy. Perhaps a lot of what was said could be reduced to one point - that Facebook moderation banned and removed even points that could be heard in the US Congress. That's where Zuckerberg wondered if they've gone too far and if they're just filtering out what's harmful or brutally censoring.
Although it sounds logical, this attitude is quite wrong. Unlike social networks, not just anyone can speak in Congress, but democratically elected representatives of the people who are not anonymous and who bear political responsibility for what they say. This is precisely the biggest problem of social networks, where we often do not know who expresses certain views, with what intentions, and whether they have any responsibility if what is expressed causes damage to society.
Which does not mean that the previous moderation on Facebook and Instagram was good. But it was in line with the prevailing values in American society, judging by the election results, which is the only recognized benchmark in that federation. The new results showed that the majority of society has had enough of those values and wants changes, that is, a departure from the policy of stubborn insistence on diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI for short), regardless of the consequences. And they could be negative. Business people argued that the policy affected non-market wage growth and overproduction of vulnerable groups and rights that needed to be protected, which was bad for both business and the rights of those who really needed to be protected. To put it even more simply, it was not necessarily the best who got to the right places, but those who fulfilled modern social norms. Which are often driven by lucrative motives.
Now the pendulum has swung the other way, which is equally dangerous if that swing is not balanced. And it seems that it started with a vengeance and that in its acceleration it could destroy some of the hard-to-reach civilizational values instead of just shaking off the parasites from them.
On several occasions, Zuckerberg referred to what Elon Musk had achieved on X. This is not exactly an example because this platform, since it is not called Twitter, has gone too far in the direction of cacophony, where the reaction to untruths and even insults is too mild, all in order to protect absolute freedom of speech. He also said that he only understood the true extent of the current policy of "castration" (quote) when he delved deeper into the circles of supporters of martial arts, which is Zuckerberg's passion in recent years. With the return of Trump, that "male culture" gets a lot of support. Now there is public and loud talk about returning gender equality to binary values. To begin with.
With its new policy, Facebook will (and already has) hit the EU regulations, where this kind of freedom of speech without responsibility is not acceptable. The platform would pay draconian fines if hatred, insults and dangerous ideas spread unchecked from its servers. This means that hard moderation will almost certainly remain in the EU, and similar will be the case in other markets strong enough to impose their own rules. What will be respected in the US will not be seen in the EU, but it is there for the VI to filter out.
One thing will not change, except for the worse, and that is the ruthlessness of Meta's algorithms, which determine what we will see first, and what will be pushed into the depths of the server, far from the eyes of most users. It's the main source of social media income and I can't give it up. And that is much more dangerous than moderation.
Less than two days of blockade - that's how long it took to see how weak and powerless the public media service is, both from the outside and from the inside. At the moment of writing this text, it is the eighth day of the blockade, and the sixth that RTS is not broadcasting its program. They also seem to be facing a strike inside the house. And the essence of blocking RTS is not in what it publishes, but in what it keeps silent
In the months after the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, the flames of rebellion spread throughout Serbia. The first protests started in Novi Sad right after the tragedy. The authorities responded with arrests, police cordons and intimidation, but instead of calming down the protesters, new protests followed.
The rector of the University of Belgrade, Vladan Đokić, has been the target of top state officials and regime tabloids for months, who label him as an insidious instigator of student protests, an opportunist, "the face of evil" and "the leader of the criminal octopus." How and why a rector became "state enemy number one"
"I'm standing in the cordon, and my daughter is shouting at me 'aw, aw, killers'. What should I do? If they ordered me - I would throw down my baton and bulletproof vest and stand on the side of my child," a police officer from the south of Serbia, who works as needed in the Belgrade Police Brigade, told "Vreme"
The recent formation of the Đura Macuta government is part of the regime's revenge and cynicism. This can be seen most in the "black troika" of new ministers appointed to deal with the parts of society that are the leaders and symbols of the big rebellion that lasted for several months, the cause of which was the fall of the canopy in Novi Sad, which claimed 16 human lives. Education, universities, unsolicited media and parts of the judiciary that refuse to listen to orders, either publicly, with announcements, or hiding behind legal procedures, should be dismantled. Those who will have no problem doing everything they are told, even reinforcing the orders with their own inventions, are chosen for this.
Who mentions the extraordinary elections when the rating of the party in power is falling, and according to all surveys, Vučić is not the most important political factor in the country, but the students?
The brutal beating of students and citizens in Novi Sad shows that the regime is not only ready to take revenge - it is actually carrying it out
If in reality the principle of balance is violated - the way the incompetent regime violated the relationship between the concrete elements at the Novi Sad Railway Station - reality will behave like a canopy: it will fail to obey
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