Has Facebook become a weapon of mass political destruction? – Pierre Haski

A year after the US presidential elections there is a theme that is depopulated in the political debate: social networks and the need to avoid the repetition of the manipulations that marked the 2016 vote. The debate testifies to the role assumed by Facebook and Twitter in the world of information and the difficulty of introducing acceptable and transparent rules to preserve the integrity of a democratic exercise.

At the center of it all is Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook founder who ended up in the dock. Zuckerberg received an avalanche of criticism for refusing to delete deceptive political ads from the social network, a decision he justified with freedom of expression. In the viewfinder there are sponsored messages that try to turn the scandal over Ukraine that hit Donald Trump (and that could cost the president impeachment) in a "Joe Biden case", a possible opponent of Trump at the 2020 elections.

On October 25, Zuckerberg spent a bad quarter of an hour in front of the pressing questions of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York democratic parliamentarian who highlighted the contradictions. On October 31, Zuckerberg was attacked by another star, Aaron Sorkin, acclaimed screenwriter of the television series The west king but above all of the film The social network, focusing precisely on the personal history of the founder of Facebook.

In an open letter published by the New York Times, Sorkin criticizes the man he told about the irresistible rise of having become an "enemy of the truth" and of endorsing lies that in his opinion corrode the essence of democracy and threaten the future of the young generations.

As if that were not enough, a petition signed by thirty thousand employees circulates within Facebook to oppose Zuckerberg's decision not to apply its rules to deceptive political advertisements that would force the company to withdraw them.

Beating the still hot nail, the great Facebook rival, Twitter, has announced that it will give up any political publicity. "We think that the dissemination of political messages should be deserved, not purchased," said CEO Jack Dorsey, in a clear attempt to take Facebook off guard.

With over two billion users on five continents, Facebook is a very powerful tool that collects detailed information about all its users. This data allows the social network to target its ads, a fundamental aspect to sell sofas, promote a cause or even manipulate public opinion.

This is precisely what happened in 2016 with the Cambridge Analytica company, linked to Steve Bannon's extreme US right and capable of managing millions of personal data via Facebook for the benefit of Donald Trump. The scandal that followed has changed the image of the social network, from a useful instrument of contact between friends to a weapon of mass political destruction.

The founder of Facebook defends himself in an unconvincing way, especially as he appears convinced that he is a benefactor of humanity, as Julien Le Bot told in his book In the head of Mark Zuckerberg. This idea, perhaps, makes it even more dangerous.

(Translation by Andrea Sparacino)