John Minchillo / APSupporters loyal to President Donald Trump clash with authorities before successfully breaching the Capitol building during a riot on the grounds Wednesday. (John Minchillo / AP) By Kipp Jones
Published January 9, 2021 at 1:36pm Share on Facebook Tweet Share Email Print
Mozilla, the foundation and developer of the popular free web browser Firefox, published a blog post on Friday arguing that silencing and de-platforming President Donald Trump is not enough and that the entire internet needs to be re-tooled to stifle political dissent.
“There is no question that social media played a role in the siege and take-over of the US Capitol on January 6,” Mozilla said in a blog post. “Since then there has been significant focus on the deplatforming of President Donald Trump. By all means the question of when to deplatform a head of state is a critical one, among many that must be addressed. When should platforms make these decisions? Is that decision-making power theirs alone?”
“But as reprehensible as the actions of Donald Trump are, the rampant use of the internet to foment violence and hate, and reinforce white supremacy is about more than any one personality,” the company said. “Donald Trump is certainly not the first politician to exploit the architecture of the internet in this way, and he won’t be the last. We need solutions that don’t start after untold damage has been done.”
Mozilla essentially called everyone who didn’t vote for Democrats in the last election racist. Then, it advocated for more censorship and more voter disenfranchisement for conservatives who already face so much discrimination in their daily lives.
The company said it is time to unmask “who is paying for advertisements, how much they are paying and who is being targeted,” which sounds an awful lot like an advocation for doxing people. Surely, that won’t be misused and unevenly applied.
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“Commit to meaningful transparency of platform algorithms so we know how and what content is being amplified, to whom, and the associated impact. Turn on by default the tools to amplify factual voices over disinformation,” Mozilla added.
Finally, the Mozilla said the tech must “Work with independent researchers to facilitate in-depth studies of the platforms’ impact on people and our societies, and what we can do to improve things.”
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“These are actions the platforms can and should commit to today. The answer is not to do away with the internet, but to build a better one that can withstand and gird against these types of challenges. This is how we can begin to do that,” concluded Mozilla.
Mozilla also took to Twitter to share its message: https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=WestJournalism&dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1347633954497548289&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.westernjournal.com%2Ftop-tech-foundation-deplatforming-not-enough-entire-internet-needs-change-capitol-incursion%2F&siteScreenName=WestJournalism&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px
Top Tech Foundation: Deplatforming Not Enough, Entire Internet Needs to Change After Capitol Incursion
John Minchillo / APSupporters loyal to President Donald Trump clash with authorities before successfully breaching the Capitol building during a riot on the grounds Wednesday. (John Minchillo / AP) By Kipp Jones
Published January 9, 2021 at 1:36pm Share on Facebook Tweet Share Email Print
Mozilla, the foundation and developer of the popular free web browser Firefox, published a blog post on Friday arguing that silencing and de-platforming President Donald Trump is not enough and that the entire internet needs to be re-tooled to stifle political dissent.
“There is no question that social media played a role in the siege and take-over of the US Capitol on January 6,” Mozilla said in a blog post. “Since then there has been significant focus on the deplatforming of President Donald Trump. By all means the question of when to deplatform a head of state is a critical one, among many that must be addressed. When should platforms make these decisions? Is that decision-making power theirs alone?”
“But as reprehensible as the actions of Donald Trump are, the rampant use of the internet to foment violence and hate, and reinforce white supremacy is about more than any one personality,” the company said. “Donald Trump is certainly not the first politician to exploit the architecture of the internet in this way, and he won’t be the last. We need solutions that don’t start after untold damage has been done.”
Advertisement – story continues below
Mozilla essentially called everyone who didn’t vote for Democrats in the last election racist. Then, it advocated for more censorship and more voter disenfranchisement for conservatives who already face so much discrimination in their daily lives.
The company said it is time to unmask “who is paying for advertisements, how much they are paying and who is being targeted,” which sounds an awful lot like an advocation for doxing people. Surely, that won’t be misused and unevenly applied.
TRENDING: Twitter’s Ban of Trump Just Opened an Entire New Line of Criticism
“Commit to meaningful transparency of platform algorithms so we know how and what content is being amplified, to whom, and the associated impact. Turn on by default the tools to amplify factual voices over disinformation,” Mozilla added.
Finally, the Mozilla said the tech must “Work with independent researchers to facilitate in-depth studies of the platforms’ impact on people and our societies, and what we can do to improve things.”
Advertisement – story continues below
“These are actions the platforms can and should commit to today. The answer is not to do away with the internet, but to build a better one that can withstand and gird against these types of challenges. This is how we can begin to do that,” concluded Mozilla.
Mozilla also took to Twitter to share its message: https://platform.twitter.com/embed/