On Fox and Facebook

January 25, 2021

No sooner did the tear gas dissipate following the Washington riot than Twitter and Facebook banned Trump, and Fox TV pivoted to a new cause with an onscreen banner labeled “The Dangers of Tech Censorship”.

Twitter and Facebook explained that their bans were intended to protect public safety, despite years of ignoring it altogether. Fox attacked censorship despite a track record of redacting any information or expertise that didn’t fall in line with its political bias and loopy narratives. Their collective posturing as custodians of the public good are laughable. All three have trafficked in false and hateful content on-air and online for so long, and so profitably, that they have become the free world’s most irresponsible media outlets.

Twitter is a headline service, but Facebook is where hate and lawlessness take root. The gigantic platform is now America’s largest source of “news” and hosts self-publishers who can run amok and metastasize, thanks to engineering and algorithms. And Fox, for its part, is a traditional network with access to the public’s airwaves that has become a megaphone for anyone or anything that its owner, producers and anchors rubber-stamp.

Meanwhile, America’s other content providers — newspapers, magazines, broadcasters, and advertisers — dutifully curate content because they are liable for any damages caused to people or property as a result of lies, smears, or hateful or violent language or images they publish or broadcast.

Why the double-standard? Blame rests with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for failing to discipline, or pull Fox TV’s license in the past following its many incidences of journalistic malpractice. FCC regulations — such as a prohibition against false information or against programming that creates “public harm” — are on the books to enforce, but that’s where they remain. At least Fox can be sued and recently was successfully by victims of its egregious attacks. But such countervails are rare, and need not have been needed if its newsroom been tempered and monitored over the years by the FCC.

By far the most egregious lapse is the fact that Big Tech has gotten a free pass because Section 230 of the Communication Act exempts websites, including social media companies hosting content generated by others, from prosecution or litigation for damages. This section defines them as “platforms”, not “publishers” — a spurious distinction that’s, nonetheless, gotten them off the hook, mostly due to Silicon Valley’s army of lobbyists and its millions in political contributions to lawmakers.

The other injurious American industry with blanket immunity is gun manufacturers. And we know how that’s worked out:

To be honest, America’s “press” has been mostly irresponsible throughout history with one brief respite. After the Second World War a Commission on Freedom of the Press outlined the media industry’s social responsibility to clean up a notably shabby past. Its proposals led to editorial standards, norms about editorial independence, and the need to separate news from opinion.

These ethical guidelines were also applied to broadcasters by the Federal Communications Commission which added a “fairness doctrine” requiring honest, equitable, and balanced reporting involving issues of public importance. The doctrine was slated to become law in 1987, but was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan who believed it would infringe free speech and intrude on journalistic “judgment”.

Now this. Fox has gone rogue journalistically, and Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and neo-Nazi or racist websites have a free pass and remain unconstrained by regulations, ethics, or laws. In a country that prides itself on its rule of law, there are no police patrolling America’s “Information Highway” so offenders are never caught. Unlike motorists or the New York Times, these media companies have been granted the privilege of self-regulation and abused it. Their overlords have “self-regulated” by exploiting, amplifying, and repeating anything to increase ratings or clicks, and therefore profits.

Clearly, Big Tech’s legal immunity must be rescinded, if only because no one should be above law. And Fox and hate radio (and the giant Google-owned network YouTube) should be restrained by resurrecting the FCC’s ”fairness doctrine”, and replacing FCC management with those who will ride shotgun and enforce its rules.

Even after the recent crisis, it’s been business as usual. Sites and posts proliferate across social media, uncurated, and Fox continues spreading the falsehood that the election was stolen and slandering those with viewpoints it censors. Just recently, Newt Gingrich said on Fox that the Democrats were “trying to exterminate Republicans” while another guest declared that “Democrats are using troops to intimidate all people.”

The record shows that private sector self-regulation simply doesn’t work. Fox is incorrigible. Twitter and Facebook bans against Trump smack of political expediency, not long-term sincerity, having only taken place as Joe Biden was about to assume the Presidency. Since the riot, Twitter disclosed that it found and pulled 70,000 QAnon accounts alone; and Facebook admitted that at least 100,000 users posted and promoted hate and lawlessness in the lead up to the riot. Such after-the-fact curation doesn’t cut it. Preventative measures must be mandated.

The public policy point here is that Fox’s crusade against the dangers to democracy of Big Tech censorship completely misses the mark. The absence of journalistic ethics, legal liability, and lack of government oversight heighten the hazard. Other countries realize this and have moved decisively. In Germany, which was destroyed by false narratives and hate-mongering Nazis, laws stipulate that online sites must remove hate posts immediately or face bankruptcy through fines up to 50 million Euros or $60.8 million per incident. In Britain, damaged by skulduggery on Facebook during its Brexit referendum, has announced a media regulator that will police internet content.

After decades of profiteering from an un-level playing field, Fox and Facebook and the others have become scourges. The public must be protected, and these companies should be supervised or shuttered. Rigorously and immediately.

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