“Facebook’s Accountability Crisis: The Factors Influencing Modern Digital Censorship”

This paper explores the inherent tension between promoting freedom of expression online and allowing for the spread of harmful and dangerous misinformation and content. This paper is grounded in an understanding of American law, media communications, and politics. It seeks to draw attention to the need for better understanding and regulation of Section 230, with specific regard to Facebook. 

Accountability for Social Media is a complex and expansive issue that affects everyone but seems to also divide people. Joseph is very keen to present this issue as a legal issue and move away from any partisan understanding of where the lines of censorship should fall. He tried to identify the tensions between the harmful effects of dangerous misinformation and over-regulation of what voices are being represented . 

Joseph Brasco, a Senior, is pursuing an undergraduate degree in Media Communications and Psychology. He wrote this paper for his Junior Seminar in his media and communications degree. He has a specific interest in journalistic media and identified his own personal irritation with big corporations lying–namely, his hatred for misinformation and low expectations of the public to critically engage with the media they are consuming. He allowed an irritation to blossom into a critical engagement with society and policy to figure out how to dissect the issue of the accountability crisis in social media.

When asked why specifically he chose Facebook for this research, he said that his fascination is because of the "metaverse and everything; it's kind of a weird and shadowy media figure that's seemingly coming for us all," and said it's easily placed as a figurehead for "big-tech authoritarianism"-- that everyone seems to know. He believes that it would "open the dialogue for how technology affects life because they are at the forefront of technology." 

Joseph's own personal connection with the topic lies in his love of truth. He found it difficult to "discern" what of the "proliferated information" as he scrolled was true. And more than this– what even were the rules for social media executives? Are they responsible for the truth?

This led Joseph to seek to investigate the boundaries that are articulated by past carveouts and acts with a specific focus on his own understanding of Section 230. While he maintains that there is not necessarily a clear cut and complete solution. A clarification of the law and a higher responsibility placed on social media executives. 

Joseph's paper was able to clearly articulate the problems and state of the current situation surrounding the cloud of confusing boundaries swirling over the regulation of harmful misinformation online. On top of this, he was able to suggest a start to untangling. His greatest hope is to shift the dialogue from a partisan one to a non-partisan one and to show the American people that their engagement with media matters and that they can call for an online culture that values free speech while also placing responsibility on the truth. 

Read Joseph’s piece, “Facebook’s Accountability Crisis: The Factors Influencing Modern Digital Censorship” in the upcoming issue of Inventio's Volume 9!