He knows he wouldn’t have been elected without social networks, but today he’s calling on them to regulate: Former US President Barack Obama delivered a speech on Thursday, April 21, accusing him of expanding too much on major platforms . “Humanity’s Worst Instinct”, “One of the main reasons why democracy is weakening is a profound change in the way we communicate and inform ourselves”He made the announcement to students at Stanford, a university located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley.

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The Democratic leader admitted he would not have “could not have been chosen” Noted the beneficial work of awareness and mobilization done by activists around the world, without sites like MySpace or Facebook, and through networks. But above all, he detailed another aspect of the success of Facebook or YouTube, whose business model – largely targeted advertising – is based on focus economy. “Unfortunately, this is inflammatory, polarizing material that grabs attention and encourages participation” users, he noted.

“alarm bell”

The former head of state (2009-2017) also took note of the propaganda incident, and blamed himself for not feeling well enough “How receptive we had become to lies and conspiracy theories” Before the election of Donald Trump, who succeeded him. “Putin didn’t do it. He didn’t need to. We did it for ourselves”He said, referring to voter manipulation campaigns conducted by Russia. ‘We just saw a current president deny clear election results and help fuel a violent rebellion against the nation’s capital’He emphasized references to Donald Trump, who did not recognize Joe Biden’s victory in late 2020, and encouraged his supporters ahead of the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol, which killed several people. “It should be alarm bells for us to respond.”

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So Barack Obama called for reform of the laws governing social networks so that they are more accountable and more transparent, explaining that the problem was less at the root of the propaganda. “What do people post” He “content that these platforms promote”, According to them there is evidence that they are not “neutral” And that algorithms, like cars, food and other consumer products, must be subject to security checks by regulatory authority. He then elaborated a range of values ​​that he believed should guide material moderation, such as strengthening democracy and respecting differences. “Tools don’t control us. We can control them”He concluded.