Ass-Backwards: The Facebook Oversight Board, Trump, and Freedom

[The Economist]

The Facebook Oversight Board decision on Trump “pleases no one” because we have it backwards. Social media have become a universal platform: We should individually control what we choose to hear, not globally control who can speak. 

The Internet is not like a soapbox with limited reach (if you don’t like the speech, you can walk away). Newsfeeds come to you all or not at all — except as filtered. We need to control our own filters! That is how we “walk away” as we desire. 

We can’t rely on control at the source. No one should decide for us what gets impressed upon our attention (except as we empower them to serve as our agent). The only solution is for each of us to control how we individually filter. We need to break out an open market in user-selectable filtering services that we each can choose from. Not perfect, but that is the nature of a free society. More at Tech Policy Press: The Internet Beyond Social Media Thought-Robber Barons.

Who should decide what you listen to? Not the speaker, not the government, not the platform, not some “oversight” board. Social Media cannot offer freedom of EXpression unless we each retain freedom of IMpression. We need individual control/delegation of what we see. #FreeOurFeeds! 

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