ThoughtGallery.org > The Future of Facebook and Other Social Media Companies

The Future of Facebook and Other Social Media Companies

President Donald Trump recently threatened to close down social media platforms that “silence conservatives,” a day after Twitter for the first time added a fact check to one of his posts.

Trump posted two tweets alleging, without evidence, that expanded mail-in-voting could not be “anything less than substantially fraudulent” and would lead to a “Rigged Election.” Twitter added a warning label at the bottom of the tweets and link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” The link takes readers to a page with information on voting by mail and posts related to fact checks on Trump’s fraud claims.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook (which also owns Instagram) is one of the most powerful social media companies in the world making him one of the richest and most powerful people in the world and it continues to have its share of content controversies including critics slamming Facebook for President Trump’s most inflammatory posts on the recent protests over police brutality and racism, to not stopping the spread of health related hoaxes about the pandemic, to not fact checking political ads: to being fined over 5 BILLION dollars over user privacy. Social media platforms’ handling of misleading posts have been under increasing scrutiny since the 2016 election, when the Russian government mounted a campaign to divide and misinform U.S. voters as part of its larger effort to influence the election. Officials and experts have warned Russia and other foreign actors are trying to do the same thing as the 2020 election nears.

“We have a different policy I think than Twitter on this,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told Fox News “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey shot back saying that the fact-check added to Trump’s tweets “does not make us an ‘arbiter of truth.’ Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves.”

The question remains: Should social media companies be allowed to continue to play by their own rules making billions of dollars at the public’s expense or is it time for the government to step in and regulate them? What’s the future for these social media companies? Join Andrew Ross Sorkin and Mike Barnicle for a thought provoking conversation!











When: Tue., Jul. 28, 2020 at 6:00 pm
Where: The 92nd Street Y, New York
1395 Lexington Ave.
212-415-5500
Price: $10
Buy tickets/get more info now
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President Donald Trump recently threatened to close down social media platforms that “silence conservatives,” a day after Twitter for the first time added a fact check to one of his posts.

Trump posted two tweets alleging, without evidence, that expanded mail-in-voting could not be “anything less than substantially fraudulent” and would lead to a “Rigged Election.” Twitter added a warning label at the bottom of the tweets and link reading “Get the facts about mail-in ballots.” The link takes readers to a page with information on voting by mail and posts related to fact checks on Trump’s fraud claims.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook (which also owns Instagram) is one of the most powerful social media companies in the world making him one of the richest and most powerful people in the world and it continues to have its share of content controversies including critics slamming Facebook for President Trump’s most inflammatory posts on the recent protests over police brutality and racism, to not stopping the spread of health related hoaxes about the pandemic, to not fact checking political ads: to being fined over 5 BILLION dollars over user privacy. Social media platforms’ handling of misleading posts have been under increasing scrutiny since the 2016 election, when the Russian government mounted a campaign to divide and misinform U.S. voters as part of its larger effort to influence the election. Officials and experts have warned Russia and other foreign actors are trying to do the same thing as the 2020 election nears.

“We have a different policy I think than Twitter on this,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently told Fox News “I just believe strongly that Facebook shouldn’t be the arbiter of truth of everything that people say online.” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey shot back saying that the fact-check added to Trump’s tweets “does not make us an ‘arbiter of truth.’ Our intention is to connect the dots of conflicting statements and show the information in dispute so people can judge for themselves.”

The question remains: Should social media companies be allowed to continue to play by their own rules making billions of dollars at the public’s expense or is it time for the government to step in and regulate them? What’s the future for these social media companies? Join Andrew Ross Sorkin and Mike Barnicle for a thought provoking conversation!

Buy tickets/get more info now