4 ms·
Roger McNamee is not an idiot. Among his many accomplishments, he was an early Facebook backer.[a] He would not be recommending a shutdown of social media plat
by cs702 7y ago
Roger McNamee is not an idiot. Among his many accomplishments, he was an early Facebook backer.[a] He would not be recommending a shutdown of social media platforms without giving serious thought to the matter. Among the things he said, this passage stands out for me:
> [Social medial platforms] are the products of an American business culture with few rules, where misbehaviour seldom results in punishment. Smart people take what they can get and tell themselves they earned it. They feel entitled. Consequences are someone else's problem.
At the end of the day, though, the most effective path to reform would be to shut down the platforms at least temporarily. ... Any country can go first. The platforms have left you no choice. The time has come to call their bluff.
Companies with responsible business models will emerge overnight to fill the void.
[a] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_McNamee https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_McNamee
- Chlorus 7y ago> Companies with responsible business models will emerge overnight to fill the void. Can't wait to see his standard applied to, say, a newspaper, which also are products of that American business culture. Somehow, I get the feeling it would go down a lot differently. I'm still not sure what is meant by 'shut down' here - are we actually talking forbidding ISPs to route traffic to them? DNS blacklisting? Or just something like preventing them from having any physical presence (data centers, offices) until they start complying with summons? Because in the former case, I can't see how he possibly can think that's viable.
- nradov 7y agoThe idea of banning social media platforms is so ridiculous as to be prima facie evidence of idiocy. There's just no way to do it, at least not in a civilized country which respects human rights and the rule of law.
- Nasrudith 7y agoWell to be fair he could be malicious instead of stupid. Facebook itself can go die in a dumpster fire as far as I care but it should be a natrual death - not one pushed by demagogues and old media interests transparently interested in forcing control to consolidate their power.
- ww520 7y agoRoger McNamee might not be an idiot but ample evidences have shown that competence in one field doesn't translate well into other fields. It's just hubris to assume one is expert in everything.