Is the party finally over?<\/p>\n
The message of yesterday’s Senate hearing was clear: Social media is well past its incubation period and needs to be regulated the way broadcasters are.<\/p>\n
The original social media business model was genius — get ordinary people to create content for free, sell ads and give the content creators a cut.<\/p>\n
More on social media<\/strong>: Instagram\u2019s \u2018nightly nudge\u2019 may be a step toward healthy social media habits<\/a><\/p>\n But as YouTube discovered early on, what people wanted to post AND wanted to see included a lot of porn and violence. And nasty gossip. And dangerous stupid human tricks. Yes, uplifting and charming Cat videos too, but way too much of the other stuff.<\/p>\n And the algorithms, which were designed to feed viewers more of whatever they clicked on, amplified the garbage as well as the gold.<\/p>\n With so many “contributors” there was no way to do what regular broadcasters do — which is vet the people who supply your content, preview what’s broadcast, and exercise that control in real-time.<\/p>\n And that’s how the trouble started.<\/p>\n Our show \u2013 Seattle\u2019s Morning News<\/a> — is controlled by a company with people you can contact and complain to — our employers know who we are, Colleen, Chris and I are bound to standards set out in our employment contracts, our organization is regulated by the FCC, and even with all that — we ALSO operate with a delay just in case.<\/p>\n Social media platforms, however, can just sit back as people they don’t know post stuff they don’t preview and are not legally responsible for.<\/p>\n Because they’re not considered broadcasters. Like gun manufacturers, they can’t be sued for the consequences of their products — even though their audiences, which are in the billions, far surpass traditional broadcasters — except maybe on Super Bowl Sunday.<\/p>\n More from Dave Ross<\/a><\/strong>: Initiatives will be the stars of November ballot<\/a><\/p>\n But yesterday it was clear that a critical mass of senators has come to the conclusion that the cost of this hands-off approach has been far too high.<\/p>\n Republican Senator Joe Kennedy:<\/p>\n Listen to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O’Brien weekday mornings from 5 – 9 a.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the <\/em>podcast here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n