Welcome to Naked News, I’m Shannon Blake. Social media is rightfully under a LOT of scrutiny these days, and we have a few examples of how that’s playing out on today’s show. We’ll begin in the naked newsroom with Eila Adams and how the UK is putting social media companies on notice!
That’s right Shannon, the head of the UK’s communication regulator, Ofcom, short for Office of Communication, says they won’t hesitate to hit social media companies HARD if they don’t deal with harmful content. That includes hefty fines, legal action and in extreme cases, temporarily suspending platforms. Regulators will have powers to impose penalties on a range of content including bullying, child abuse, terrorism and fake news. The UK government is finalizing who will be given oversight authority of social media but Ofcom is the most likely candidate.
Meanwhile, many corporations are hitting Facebook and Instagram where it hurts: advertising revenues! They’re taking part in the “Stop Hate for Profit” campaign, which calls on businesses to suspend ad campaigns on the platforms throughout July, over what they claim are Facebook’s reckless content moderation practices. As one company put it, “Facebook must take clear and unequivocal actions to stop its platform from being used to spread and amplify racism and hate. Here here!
And on Wednesday, the hashtag #TwitchBlackout was trending globally on Twitter. It was encouraging people to take the day off from the popular streaming site to recognize victims of sexual and racial abuses. Streamers claim that Twitch has not acted quickly enough when some of it’s content creators have been accused of sexual assault. Others also think the site has been too lenient on users who’ve been accused of using racist or homophobic language. Like Shannon said earlier, Social media is OFFICIALLY on NOTICE! Better clean up your act. Don’t go away.
