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For Facebook, the conclusion of President Trump’s term in office meant a respite from the regular provocations of a leader who seemed intent on pushing the limits of what social media companies would allow.
It also brought one final dilemma: whether to reinstate his account,
locked down indefinitely in the aftermath of
But Facebook didn’t decide. Instead, the company punted the question to
a third-party organization convened last year explicitly to take such thorny questions off Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s shoulders.
“Facebook is referring its decision to indefinitely suspend former U.S. President Donald Trump’s access to his Facebook and Instagram accounts to the independent Oversight Board,”
On the morning of Jan. 6, I was cackling over “Stop the Steal” rally attendees’ clueless posts about parking in Washington. Future Tense contributor Faine Greenwood was lurking on TheDonald.win, a Trump fan discussion site, and tweeted the best examples of out-of-towners fretting about the logistics. (I particularly loved the person who thought that 6 a.m. pandemic D.C. traffic was “psycho.” Buddy, you have no idea.) By the end of the day, everything seemed a bit less funny. But as a new and furious round of discussion about deplatforming erupted, it still seemed perfect that the morning began for me with screenshots of TheDonald.win.
The rollout of fiber broadband will never make it to many communities in the US. That’s because large, national ISPs are currently laying fiber primarily focused on high-income users to the detriment of the rest of their users. The absence of regulators has created a situation where wealthy end users are getting fiber, but predominantly low-income users are not being transitioned off legacy infrastructure. The result being “digital redlining” of broadband, where wealthy broadband users are getting the benefits of cheaper and faster Internet access through fiber, and low-income broadband users are being left behind with more expensive slow access by that same carrier. We have seen this type of economic discrimination in the past in other venues such as housing, and it is happening now with 21st-century broadband access.
Regulate technology? Congress needs to enlist expert help
Kevin Frazier
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In the absence of an institutional effort to study and implement technology, Congress has lost its capacity to effectively regulate and utilize tech-based innovation.Getty Images
People fear what they don’t understand. It’s an old refrain but it has proved true when it comes to policymaking and technology advances. From artificial intelligence to nuclear energy, oftentimes policymakers have opted for complete bans rather than nuanced considerations for how to maximize the benefits of the technology while reducing downside risks to the environment, marginalized communities and job displacement.