The best way to limit the power of any individual social media network is to make room for new networks and, perhaps even more important, for third-party sites that allow users to customize their online experience: combining content from multiple sites, controlling what kids can see and other features someone has imagined and needs a chance to make real. In short, policymakers can ensure the question of who owns Twitter, or Instagram or TikTok, doesn’t matter quite so much. That is because government has abandoned the principle that mass media companies have special obligations to society, and it has allowed a few big social networks to suffocate competition, leaving users and advertisers without practical choices or leverage.īetter laws could help to revive competition, restrain harmful behavior and even realize the potential of social media to strengthen American democracy rather than undermine it. The oligarchs of the internet not only command larger audiences than the media barons of earlier eras they operate under fewer constraints. Much of the nation’s public discourse is conducted in forums owned by Mark Zuckerberg and a handful of rival billionaires and is regulated by algorithms concealed from public scrutiny. Whether or not Elon Musk ends up acquiring Twitter, his plans have caused consternation because of a simple truth: The owners of social media sites have too much power.
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May 2023
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