Dominant internet platforms must disrupt themselves

In May 2016 I was invited to join a group of fellow conservatives in Menlo Park for a meeting with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to discuss reports that the social network was suppressing conservative voices and news stories — including stories about CPAC, the largest annual gathering of conservatives hosted by the American Conservative Union, which I chair.

I declined the invitation because I feared Facebook’s goal was the appearance of cooperation, not a meaningful interaction with conservatives. While we accepted the decision of our friends and colleagues who did attend in a good-faith effort to discuss their concerns, regrettably, ensuing reports confirmed our suspicion that — according to an unnamed Facebook employee — “part of the goal [of the Menlo Park meeting] was to bring in a group of conservatives who were certain to fight with one another so they would fail to unify” and as a consequence would not be “threatening or coherent” to Facebook.

{mosads}To be fair, ACU has talked to Facebook representatives several times since that meeting when we’ve had our content suppressed. They’ve always responded promptly, unlike other dominant online platforms to whom we’ve presented similar concerns. 

But fast forward to 2018, and it was Zuckerberg who received invitations from lawmakers across the ideological spectrum keen on getting answers about how Facebook’s platform and trove of user data have been exploited by bad actors. What’s more, recognizing the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal is a symptom of a larger problem, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) recently penned an op-ed in the San Francisco Chronicle inviting other platform CEOs to appear before his committee.

I hope they take him up on his offer.

While the Facebook breach has catalyzed scrutiny of Silicon Valley, it joins a growing list of concerns about the effect dominant internet platforms are having on hundreds of millions of Americans — including election interference, the aforementioned suppression of conservative voices, improper use of data, theft and fraud, and more — that can no longer be addressed by meetings in the Bay Area, one-off favors for individual groups, or even congressional hearings.

Rather, to use a favorite Silicon Valley term, we need change “at scale,” because as the internet matures, the global giants that dominate the online ecosystem must mature along with it. 

Created in the United States and nurtured by American freedoms and ideals, the internet has facilitated many socially and economically beneficial uses — revolutionizing the way we communicate, conduct commerce and entertain ourselves. But in recent years as more and more troubling conduct is unearthed, consumer confidence and public trust are eroding.

For instance, a recent poll by internet safety group the Digital Citizens Alliance found that a majority of Americans (51 percent) now say that Facebook, Google and Twitter are not responsible companies because they don’t prioritize “trying to do the right thing.” 

“Trying to do the right thing” flows from a presumption of responsibility. But many of the problems enabled by today’s online status quo can be attributed to a lack of accountability — where online businesses are exempt from standards of conduct we expect offline businesses to uphold. 

Zuckerberg recently said, “I think we need to take a broader view of our responsibility. We’re not just building tools, but we need to take full responsibility for the outcome and how people use those tools as well.”

I applaud Zuckerberg for those words, and I encourage similar affirmations from other platform CEOs, as well as meaningful action to put force behind their words. We all want internet platforms to thrive so that legitimate speech and commerce can thrive along with them. But until internet companies culturally accept that they have a responsibility to address harmful conduct they facilitate, progress cannot occur.

If that’s the case, Congress and regulators may become, in fact, “threatening and coherent.”

Matt Schlapp (@MSchlapp) is the chairman of the American Conservative Union. He was the White House political director to President George W. Bush.