False Assumptions Behind the Current Drive to Regulate Social Media

Posted July 25, 2019

External Article: Cato Institute

Georgia Institute of Technology School of Public Policy Professor Milton Mueller was recently quoted in the article "False Assumptions Behind the Current Drive to Regulate Social Media," which was published by the Cato Institute on July 23.

Here's an excerpt:

In the early days of the Internet, citing concerns about pedophiles and hackers, parents would worry about their children’s engagement on unfamiliar platforms. Now, those same parents have Facebook accounts and get their news from Twitter. However, one look at a newspaper shows op-eds aplenty castigating the platforms that host an ever-growing share of our social lives. Even after more than a decade of social media use, prominent politicians and individuals who lack critical awareness of the realities and limitations of social media platforms choose to scapegoat platforms—rather than people—for a litany of social problems. Hate speech on Facebook? Well, it’s obviously Facebook’s fault. Fake news? Obviously created by Twitter.

But, what if these political concerns are misplaced? In a new Cato Policy Analysis, Georgia Tech’s Milton Mueller argues that that the moral panic attending social media is misplaced.

Read the full story here.

The School of Public Policy is a unit of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

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