None of the country’s largest social media platforms responded to repeated questions from CNN over multiple days this week about what actions they have taken in response to misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating about the Trump rally shooting.
And what the public experienced on social media in the moments after the attack on Trump is a sign of what’s to come, said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a social media watchdog group that advocates for tighter regulation of the platforms.
“It can’t make a safe social media product that does politics and civic stuff, and so it just got out of that business.”Baybars Orsek, managing director of the fact-checking organization Logically Facts, said these and other changes by social media platforms have made working with them in the last few years more challenging.
The decision effectively means the US government can continue to flag misinformation threats to social media companies in the runup to the 2024 election.
Mainstream media outlets, taking care to report only credible answers, were initially slower to report what was happening than the breakneck pace of social media speculation.
Persons:
Donald Trump, bode, “, Joe Biden, Biden, Snapchat, ”, Imran Ahmed, ” Ahmed, Elon Musk’s, Musk, CCDH, X, TikTok, “ Meta, Laura Edelson, ” Baybars Orsek, ” Orsek, Trump, Edelson, Alicia Wanless, “ I’ve, ” Wanless, Wanless
Organizations:
CNN, Meta, Twitter, YouTube, Department of Homeland Security, Big Tech, Trump, Google, Center, Social, Northeastern University, Democracy, Supreme, Facebook, Carnegie Endowment, International Peace