3 ms·

I’m really tired of tech giants claiming they’re just platforms when it’s convenientm for them. Twitter, Google, and Facebook claim they’re not publishers, just

I’m really tired of tech giants claiming they’re just platforms when it’s convenientm for them. Twitter, Google, and Facebook claim they’re not publishers, just platforms. Meanwhile they’re acting like both. Amazon isn’t engaged in commerce, it’s just a platform, but again is very much both. It seems that some regulations on this kind of “platform” is inevitable, and probably overdue. The degree to which companies on the internet thrive through aggressive doublespeak is frustrating beyond belief.

arooaroo 9y ago
I’m pretty sure that Google, Facebook, Twitter et al., stick to acting as platforms because they are relying on years of legal precedents which protects them from liability of any abuse carried out by users. If however they start curating content or being especially controlling then they risk being classed as a normal publisher, and as such liable to additional regulations or damages based on actions of their users and/partners. This is why Facebook is in a bind about “fake news” being shared on their network. If they remove it then they will be accused of not being an impartial platform. So instead, at best, they have to algorithmically cross reference posts with other reliable content sources to “flag” to the user that the shared article “may” be inaccurate. Unless that post contains a bit of naked flesh, it ain’t being taken down.