“WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH”
- Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
I have a love-hate relationship with Facebook. It is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends particularly if they are spread around the globe. It is also good for bringing together those with similar anorak interests so I am a mug for any groups relating to the history of my birth town or supporters of Brighton and Hove Albion. My village has a Facebook page which came into its own during the pandemic. There might be the occasional spat about dog poo or parking on the pavement but overall it provides an invaluable service to villagers.
I am also aware Facebook has a darker side. I was oblivious to this until a few years ago when a poster appeared from one of my followers. It was clearly Islamophobic, showing a not very flattering picture of Sadiq Khan and suggested (I put it mildly!) he was soft on crime committed by Muslims because he was a Muslim himself and London would not be free of crime until he was removed. This is, of course, an evidence-free conspiracy theory. If it had been on printed material it would have been necessary to state a publisher who would risk receiving a judicial punishment. In the wild west world of social media, no such punishment exists so whoever published the poster could go freely on. Inevitably, there were lots of likes and messages confirming the main message.
The second time was another Islamophobic poster. This time attacking mosques. There were too many and they are part of a conspiracy to take over the fair land of England. Another evidence-free conspiracy theory. Again, no publisher’s name given and, therefore, it was not possible to punish the perpetrator. For the record, the UK is home to about 2.8 million Muslims which represents 3% of the population and there are around 1,500 mosques or prayer rooms (Source: New Statesman June 2018). In contrast there are about 16,000 churches (source: The Guardian) and over 35 million people (source: Office of National Statistics) who describe themselves as Christian. I would not worry just yet that Saladin has returned to avenge the Crusades.
This makes me a reluctant user of Facebook. I have journeyed once or twice into its dark side and wish I had not as I entered a world of conspiracy theories, misinformation, hate, division, racism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and misogyny. All this is justified and defended on the grounds of freedom of speech. Facebook’s defence is that they are only holding a “mirror up to society” according to their President for Global Affairs and Communications, one Nick Clegg.
This is a somewhat disingenuous defence as the mirror is showing back, in part, what Facebook itself has created.
Facebook has a reputation for publishing, and not fact checking, ads containing misleading information. Popular Information (5th March 2020) revealed that the Trump campaign had used Facebook to publish more than 1,000 ads containing misleading information about the US Census. Facebook refused to remove them, but after a public outcry, agreed to do so. It took Facebook over 24 hours to do this and some might argue by then the damage had been done. Nobody knows how many subscribers had read and shared the ads.
Another area where a battle rages with Facebook over misleading information is climate change. Climate Power 2020 is currently engaged with Facebook’s Oversight Board to take a firmer stance.
Many in the US argue that the fight against Coronavirus is being hampered by misleading information being circulated on Facebook over such things as the wearing of masks, the epidemic being a hoax, social distancing, vaccines, etc.
Facebook makes money from anti-vaccine propaganda and currently refuses to take down private Facebook groups with millions of followers that promote fake Covid-19 cures and urge people not to seek treatment for symptoms.
However, life for Facebook might just be about to change. The wild west nature of the social platform is obviously now having a detrimental effect on the commercial world as over the last few weeks some 125 companies have decided to stop advertising on the platform for the month of July. This included big hitters such as Ford, Starbucks, Adidas, Ben and Jerry’s and Verizon. Coca-Cola and Hershey subsequently joined the ban, but the biggest nail arrived from when Unilever announced they would not be advertising on Facebook or Twitter for the rest of the year.
This is serious stuff for Facebook as 99% of its income is derived from ads.
In their statements, the companies more or less said the same thing. “There needs to be much more enforcement in the area of hate speech” (Unilever) and “Facebook is (not) effectively managing violent and divisive speech on their platform” (Coca-Cola).
Facebook’s defence can be found in Article 11 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which states “everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless of frontiers”. However, no one right trumps all the others. So when Facebook publishes what others might consider to be disinformation, they need to be satisfied that rights to dignity, to marry, to found a family, freedom of religion, of assembly, to education, equality, non-discrimination, equality between men and women and on and on are not infringed.
It is not good enough to say we are just holding up a mirror to society. With the right to freedom of speech comes responsibilities.
For example, the right to free speech cannot be used to justify Islamophobia or anti-Semitism which infringes the right to freedom of religion.
Facebook may be too big to fail and might just sail through the current storm but it is clear they have had a big wake up call. Losing many of your Ivy League advertisers is not a good look. Companies do not want to be seen in a reflected mirror showing a society riven with hate and division. They have clearly shown a preference for a reflected society that respects all the rights citizens enjoy irrespective of their skin colour, religion or ethnic origin.
So, Facebook is at a critical crossroads. It has the opportunity to join the grown ups and do its bit to promote cohesion and tolerance and a society in which decisions are based on the best evidence available. Time for it also to unreservedly line up against hate and division in whatever forms they take.
For Facebook the key question has to be “mirror, mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all?”
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