In an interview with CNN on Sunday, a Facebook executive said the company does not believe that its social media service is a primary contributor to the political polarization that has become widespread in the United States.
Vice President of Company Policy and Global Affairs, Nick Clegg, spoke ahead of an expected Sunday evening segment on CBS’s “60 Minutes” featuring a whistleblower who alleged that the company tried to lift some election-related restrictions placed around the November 2020 contest. Proceed very fast.
Clegg acknowledged that the company’s platform could serve as a medium for hate speech and propaganda.
“The way people exchange information … now happens online,” he said in the interview. “So of course, we as one of the largest social media platforms have a responsibility to understand where we contribute to negative and extreme content or hate speech or misinformation etc.”
The whistleblower is expected to testify at Tuesday’s Senate hearing on what one of the senators announcing the meeting called the social media company’s toxic effect on young users.
Clegg dismissed as “ridiculous” that social media should be blamed by supporters for the deadly January 6 attack on the US Capitol Donald Trump, inspired by his false claims that his electoral defeat was the result of widespread fraud.
“The rebellion of that day is entirely with the people who instigate the violence and encourage them, including President Trump,” Clegg said. “I think it gives people the false belief to believe that there must be a technical or technical explanation for the issues of political polarization in the United States … It’s too easy to say that it’s Facebook’s fault.”
US senators last week briefed Facebook about plans to better protect young users on its apps leak internal research This shows that the social media giant was aware of instagram The app harmed the mental health of teenagers.
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