On Friday (January 8), the Mozilla Foundation, the nonprofit organization behind Firefox, proposed a series of measures to change the “dangerous dynamics” of the Internet, claiming that “temporary bans or permanent bans for bad behavior on the Web” are not enough, according to a report in the U.S. media Breitbart News on Sunday (January 10).
The article was written by Mitchell Baker, president of the Mosella Foundation, and was published on the Mosella Foundation’s website blog. After criticizing President Trump‘s “reprehensible” actions, the article calls for more “solutions. “Our solutions need to work before the countless losses are done,” Ms. Baker wrote. “In order to change these dangerous dynamics, it is not enough to temporarily ban or permanently block bad actors from social media platforms.”
According to Ms. Baker, social platforms should commit to other “precise and specific actions,” including
The need to show who is paying for ads, how much they are paying for them and to whom they are paying
Meaningful transparency in platform algorithms to know what content is being amplified, how it is being amplified, to whom it is being amplified, and the associated impact of the amplified content.
By default, tools that amplify true information and oppose false information should be turned on.
Collaborate with independent researchers to conduct in-depth research on the impact of platforms on people and society, and conduct in-depth research to determine what needs to be done.Ironically, the Mosella Foundation’s website claims that Mosella is “committed to ensuring that the Internet remains an open public resource that we can all access.
Breitbart News reported that Twitter took the unprecedented step of suspending President Trump’s official account on Friday; President Trump’s Facebook, Instant Messenger and Twitch accounts were also blocked indefinitely. But as a result, many backlash effects emerged.
Dr. Ben Carson, the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, wrote, “Large technology and social media platforms want to act like media outlets, but they are unwilling to take on the responsibilities that other media outlets take on .” He also said, “Whether you agree with it or not, speech should be free.”
President Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. wrote, “We live in the era depicted in British author George Orwell’s novel ‘1984,’ where free speech no longer exists in America, it has died with the arrival of large technology companies, leaving Just a select few. This is absolute madness! “
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also said, “Sequestering speech is dangerous and un-American. Sadly, gagging speech is no longer a new tactic of the left, which has worked for years to silence opposition. We can’t let the left ban speech from 75 million Americans. America is not the Chinese Communist Party.”
Also on Friday, Kate Ruane, senior legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), issued a statement condemning Facebook and Twitter’s decision to suspend President Trump’s account, objecting to the “unfettered power” of large tech companies and the precedent they set for other radicals.
Meanwhile, many people have moved on to other social media platforms to voice their opinions.
Gab.com, a free, free-speech social network, said on Saturday that visits to its platform have increased by more than 750 percent in the past few days after most mainstream tech platforms blacklisted President Trump.
In 2019, Mosella banned Gab’s Dissident (Dissenter) extension from their browser extension store because the extension “was going to bring a free speech commenting system to every site on the web.”
Apple, meanwhile, removed the social media platform Parler from Apple’s App Store, claiming that Parler did not adequately enforce its policy of suppressing free speech. Google also removed Parler’s app from its Android app store on Friday.
In a statement, Parler’s CEO John Matze said, “At midnight on Sunday (Jan. 10), Amazon will shut down all of our servers in an attempt to completely eliminate free speech on the Internet. The rebuilding of our site may result in the inability to use Para on the Internet for up to a week. We are prepared for such an event, we do not rely on Amazon’s proprietary infrastructure and we have built our own barebones product.”
Mr. Martz said, “We will do our best to migrate to a new provider immediately. Amazon, Google and Apple have joined forces to do this intentionally, knowing that our options will be limited and they know it will cause the most damage, especially with President Trump’s collective gagging by large tech companies.”
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