Welcome to #BigTechisBroken week! After years of building up its case against Big Tech (Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter), the House Committee on Energy & Commerce will be holding its hearing, “Disinformation Nation: Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation” on March 25th (link below). This should include the introduction of Chairwoman Jan Schakowsky’s bill with same name (we’ll be calling Rep, Delgado co-sponsor). More than a dozen bills are expected to follow.
These are ways to brush up on the issues and take action:
Monday, March 22th, 8 pm EST: Hudson Valley’s disinfo expert Kim Snyder will launch the #BigTechisBroken campaign, as related to disinformation and platform accountability, on zoom. Sign up here
Thursday March, 25, 12 noon EST: The House Subcommittee on Communications and Technology and the Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Committee on Energy and Commerce will hold a joint hearing on Thursday, March 25, at 12 p.m, via Cisco Webex. The hearing is entitled, “Disinformation Nation: Social Media’s Role in Promoting Extremism and Misinformation.” Watch the live feed here.
Email Rep. Delgado to support legislation that holds Big Tech companies accountable. Suggested scripts or write your own:
— Everyday communities like ours are being impacted by the spread of disinformation [Tell your story — e,g., My neighbor truly believed the election was stolen and behaved in an unfortunate way], and we all watched with horror the impact of disinformation our democracy on January 6th.
OR
— When you hear Facebook’s own statistics that 64% of people who joined an extremist group on Facebook only did so because the company’s algorithm recommended it to them* and then we watch the horror on January 6th at the capitol, we can no longer wait for real action. Facebook allows disinformation because activating strong emotions helps their bottom line. They shouldn’t be permitted to continue to put profit above their civil responsibility.
Toolkit Here:
https://www.bigtechisbroken.org/
Watch:
The Social Dilemma on Netflix
Surveys:
The People vs. Big Tech: https://nrsc.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/03.10_Tech.Presi_.pdf
https://accountabletech.org/wp-content/uploads/Accountable-Tech-Frequency-Questionnaire.pdf
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