You *have* to be kidding. Does Friedman wish also to control or delete scandal, celebrity, and nutritional/"health" news that pops up on worthless Yahoo News and similar online "journalism?" How about instead teaching people how to read, decipher, and evaluate ads and "information" critically and objectively? (Disclosure: for other reasons, cannot *stand* Zuckerberg and have no use for his adorers.)
15
Let’s not forget Rupert Murdoch who literally bought his US citizenship in order to qualify for media ownership which he has very successfully used to destroy America!
69
Right on brother!
16
Your motivation was commercial gain. Money.
Many of us coulod have done that just as well. We didn't, because we thought there were ethical problems withat approach.
Yea, maybe nuclear war! Jerks!
We wouldn't haven't done it.
4
Surprised by Tom Friedman's take on Zuckerberg. Who will be the fact-checker, some government run Ministry of Truth? Careful Tom, you may get hoisted on your own petard.
11
A very minor correction to the header if I may . Zuckerberg and the Silicon Valley oligarchs are making a royal mess of America
But its Banana Republic Trump , his quisling yes men and the sycophant members of the GOP are the ones who are ' breaking ' America as they devolve us into at best a neo Fascist totalitarian mob rule state
31
Looks like Jack Dorsey read your column.
8
drop FB now
16
Lean in, Zuck and Sheryl. You are not protecting democracy or free speech. You're protecting hate lies.
27
I recall reading somewhere long ago that Zuckeberg was heard saying that he couldn't believe how stupid people were giving him all their personal information.
26
Zuckerberg looks like a soulless robot in that picture. What a creepy look on his face.
28
Don't forget Murdoch! Trumps Goebbels!
21
“Corporations have neither souls to be damned nor bodies to be punished. They therefore do as they like.” —from William Dalrymple’s ‘The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company’
21
When I was young, someone I deeply loved and trusted manipulated me for his own ends. It caused me to doubt my perception of reality, and that was terrifying. Later, I experienced a form of gaslighting in a couple of workplaces -- less terrifying, but disorienting, nonetheless.
Now, this seems to be happening on a national level. I'm not so easily sucked in anymore, but it feels as if we are being swept along on a tidal wave of untruths. Yes, Tom, I am afraid, too.
31
Thank you, Thomas. You nailed it.
6
Two thoughts
1. Why is the Nation Of Islam banned?
2. This whole “truth” thing can be seen as one of the advantages of technology. Imagine if Politicians had to abide with truth? Can any one see a better world perhaps? Let the minister into the fray and hold him to the same standards. It is important for black people to speak without censorship and fear.
1
Trump on a Make America Great Again campaign tour in 2016 was heard saying that “you can do anything” to women when you are rich and powerful. “You can do anything ………….you can grab them by ……………you can do anything”. The country elected him and now more powerful and influential. He is doing to America what he did and does to women. Republicans like Graham know exactly what he is doing. Except it take men of courage and honor to speak against fundamental abuses. Sadly, there is a base who is willing to sacrifice the values of our democracy, and is charmed every time he is insulting and abusing our institutions.
17
I fear its over.
I think its over.
8
Mr. Mister: Broken Wings.
What went wrong?
A politics that went wrong,
Beyond cutting out or tongues and staying silent at the demise, what in the world are WE going to do about the rats in the kitchen? A new York thug is curiously elected to the highest office while losing the popular vote, and we still argue the veracity of the Electoral College? Add up the population of states like Idaho, Montana, South and North Dakota, etc. and they hardly make up the population of South Florida. California could be its own state but "let it burn" reveals the vengeance and immorality of the Federal gov - not to mention Puerto Rico. Shame has disappeared and the crooks openly steal from our pockets and what do we do? Not much. I use to muse that the mafia did not disappear, it runs America. I was being sardonic. Now I think I was prophetic.
19
C. Darwin noted: "Great is the power of steady misrepresentation".
8
Lindsey Graham will be one of a small circle of trumps defenders who will forever occupy a place of dishonor in the history books.
22
What you are seeing is the true colors of the culture and society, one in which is filled with mefirst, self-centered narcissists. Until that changes, which will take a bottoming out, and one in which it seems most of you see is coming and are afraid of, nothing will change.
9
Mr Friedman,
Mark Zuckerberg is a typical American capitalist. He knows what is good for him and throws a bone to his cronies and employees while keeping his shareholders happy. Abetted by the worst personality I ever encountered in the tech management world, Ms Sandberg, they lie and cheat there way to billions of dollars delivering a Facebook! A pathetic tool of idiotic late-capitalist society, alienated from ethics and where truth is an optional feature.
We don’t have the regulations and constitutional strength to control this evil empire from selling the county on the cheap to its worse enemies.
We need a new deal. Hopefully green. We need a combination of the Roosevelts added to Debsian and Harringtonian ideas. We have Bernie and Warren in other words to deliver us from this abyss. Political, sociological and economic.
Friedman here won’t touch those two with a ten foot pole while blabbering about the evil boy Zuckerberg. He had the credibility of the author who wrote that the earth is flat, well it ain’t so!
4
The world was caught totally unprepared for the downsides of the internet. It spawned new avenues and dimensions for fraud, theft, propaganda campaigns, revenge porn, bullying, sexual predators, the black market for everything to name a few.
Congress should have been preparing for these things or addressing each of them separately to plug the holes decades ago.
Instead, we have one political party that doesn't much care for science or technology and the other that is unable or unwilling to do what is needed to save us.
4
You're finally getting it.
What an aweful place we've become.
You've divided culture, in places eliminated culture, and mostly made us a cermmercial wasteland.
Good luck getting people behind future military moves.
I ain't fighting for Google or Facebook issues.
1
And you are figuring this out now?
6
The entire system the Founders put in place 232 years agao in Philadelphia is being put at risk by Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg & their supporters.
10
Great photo of Zuckerberg. He looks like the android I suspect he is. Perfect for this era's new "breed" of business man, still as greedy and selfish as all those who came before him since the U.S. was born but with even less soul and humanity - or maybe none.
14
The most bias and subjective news I hear comes from NPR. The phony conversion style of asking and answering loaded questions to spoon feed a predigested take away to the listener. No independent thinking, interpretation, or introspection required or desired. Nauseating. We'll tell you what to think! The Times is a runner up though. Do not despair.
5
Geeze Tom....
I don't know where to start. If you think -if you REALLY think- that this pressure from Trump on the Ukraine president is any worse than what every single president in our history undoubtedly did I am surprised at your naivety. I doubt this is an impeachable act. US presidents try to gently coerce or entice foreign leaders all the time. Where I'm sure I differ from you is I SEE IT as an attempt to understand 2016 not as tampering with 2020. But NO DEMOCRAT sees it that way.
As for the Zuck I share your Yuck. But then what do people think when they get information unvetted from social media? Really! Stupid is what Stupid does. Facebook has chosen the path of least INVESTMENT, let alone least resistance!
But back to Trump. I dislike him. but he has rights too-tell Adam Schiff. And I WILL NOT vote for a socialist.
I'm 69 years old with an Econ PhD I PAID for; it was not free. Education is much more expensive than when I paid tuition. I know. I just paid for my daughter's BA.. Still isn't a pile of BAD STUDENT DEBT a clear reason not to give education for free? What lessons are we learning? You can hate Trump and hate everything he does. But I want secure borders. I want real Free trade. I want better jobs in America not just paying more for no skills. And Trump pushes for those things. He's a jerk, so? Let's fix primary and secondary education instead! Let's Impose testing lets do things that increase freedom. Let's do something positive.
6
Whose version of "facts" are they supposed to check? BTW, our country's system is based on faith in the "average citizen", and your cynicism shows why most of what you say is one-sided rhetoric.
6
It's always dangerous to extend Shakespeare on any quote, but:
"The fault, is not in our stars, nor in ourselves, but in our disguised Empire".
Tom, when you get very high up on your democracy horse and say things like "that make our government legitimate and the envy of people all over the world" -- you place yourself on thinner ice than Peter Sellers as 'Chauncy the Gardener' in "Being There", and as far from the honesty of Warren Beatty as 'Senator Bulworth' in the film of the same name:
https://www.siff.net/assets/images/festival/2018/films/B/BeingThere.jpg
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=bulworth+videos&t=ffnt&atb=v187-1&iax=videos&ia=videos&iai=Id0cqNWZ50Y
The Fourth Estate has to start 'exposing' the same Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire behind this dual-party Vichy-facade of faux-democracy that an increasing number of academics, authors, public intellectuals, and whistle-blowers have been doing for the last 40 years --- without much help from even the most principled press as to why "Democracy Dies In Darkness" under Empire.
3
Where has everyone been the last 40 years since the Vietnam war and watergate. This country has been self destructing since then and taking the rest of the world with it. The post World War Two generation saved the world and gave us a gift. The war mongers and grifters have been dismantling the FDR legacy for forty years and have been eulogizing Forest Gump ever since and you haven’t been worried until now! Bill Clinton kicked the poor off welfare and passed a crime bill to throw them in jail and you weren’t worried until now? The government destroyed labor unions and you weren’t worried until now? Both George Bushes and Cheney murdered hundreds of thousands and wreaked havoc in the Middle East with full support of the United States congress and newspapers and you haven’t been worried until now? The tea party rose its white racist head ten years ago and now you are worried? Climate scientist have been screaming for 40 years and now you fear for your country. What about all the other countries this country has destroyed along with the millions of other innocent people our corporations have devastated. And now you are worried?The murder and mayhem has been going on for forty years on an industrial scale and now you are worried?
18
Finally, Mr. Friedman takes it to Trump for real. I hope this is just the beginning of more constant criticism of Trump and his entire administration. Bravo!
7
Individuals count in history. If Democrats had nominated a competent candidate in 2016, said nominee would have cleaned the floor with Trump and the judiciary would have been safe for another generation. If Zuckerberg cared about anything but $$, Facebook would not pose a mortal threat to what comity remains in America. If Roger Ailes had not fashioned Fox News into a bludgeon for right wing hate and paranoia, the temperature of our politics would be noticeably lower. If Obama had not precipitously withdrawn from Iraq, ISIS would never have risen. If Bush had not invaded Iraq for no reason at all... Individuals and their choices count. By the way do we see any one here at the end of 2019 who might forestall our American dystopia?
1
And why exactly are you taking "aid to Ukraine" as a given that nobody can doubt? I think we need money to fix infrastructure in this country, not waste it on far away lands regular people here don't care about. In case you have not noticed, there is INFERNO in California right now, because of meager investments in roads, pubic transportation, power grid, firefighters, etc. not to mention education (where the crisis is also epic though perhaps less visible).
6
Without honesty, truth, and a willingness to have that as your foundation for any leader, any government, and now in the digital age, truth as to what the internet, and those who are allowed to use it in the public domain, can put out there, we are seriously in danger of having the lowest common denominator going forward, and not all are adults in the room. Shame on Mark Zuckerberg, and Jack Dorsey for allowing hate speech, and or lies. Both Zuckerberg, and Jack Dorsey, have done more damage to this country, right behind DT. That smile on Zuckerberg's face in the photo accompanying this piece, shows there is something missing in that brain. This isn't rocket science folks, as it is decency, and integrity, that those who are CEOs' of companies in America, should want their companies to be known for. Being a global company doesn't mean that American companies should adopt the policies of those companies that exist, or are head quartered in countries that are run by authoritarian demagogues, or dictators. I shudder to think if all new companies in the digital age, would want to adopt that model. Let's hope not!
4
A solution set:
SUPPORT the impeachment process and the real Americans trying to get the truth out.
VOTE NOV320 and get the bums out.
DUMP FACEBOOK, GOOGLE, (easy instructions -sign out of FB and don't log in for awhile; change your browser search engine and go "dark" with your gmail account.); or at least boycott them until Mr. Zuckerberg and Google change the tunes they play.
WRITE, CALL your Congressional Representatives. Contrary to popular belief, they are our, the people's representatives, not the lobbyists, not the Party, not the Administration and the Sun King.
The I in WE makes all the difference in the world. The reason this continues unabated is because the I in WE is letting it happen! If there was a million person march and sit-in in DC and state capitols around the country demanding the SUN KING be impeached and deposed, the GOP folks in Congress would be in action rather than missing in action as they are now.
If there was a successful boycotting of FB, Google and its advertisers, or if millions of people went "dark" by not logging in or de-listing and closed their accounts, FB and Google would be changing their policies real quick, like yesterday. Right now they have eyes only for financial statements. All else is word salad. These folks are counting on OUR INERTIA. I don't blame them. The track record is in their favor.
People power works. Remember what Jesse Jackson accomplished with his boycott of Toyota back in the day? You're not helpless.
8
Trump has already turned America into a Russian satellite.
The rule of law is about as meaningful at this point as it is in Russia.
Trump ignores laws and rules, and is so far, getting away with it.
He has installed co-conspirators in all top government jobs, and the Republican Congress is unwilling, for what ever reasons, to honor their oath of office.
Zuckerberg only care about money, which is basically the same problem that we have with Republicans.
This is how democracy dies.
9
It's even worse than what Friedman describes. The manoeuvre orchestrated by the Trump-Miller regime was not just hatched to get Ukraine to 'open an investigation' into the Bidens. It verbalized "elections in 2016" and was launched the day after the deposition of the Mueller Report. So it was designed to get the Ukrainian president to accredit the fake 2016 conspiracy theory ("go before a camera") namely, that interference was all done by Putin's Ukraine enemies, and Mueller's investigation is a treachery by the FBI and the CIA -- which is now the core of the Republican propaganda message. Had the Ukrainians "gone before the camera" in this way, Trump could have stamped Paid on his coercion and achieved his objective without ever mentioning Biden.
Anything to do with Ukraine is a vast Gas-lighting operation, and is lathered on what amounts to a belief group that laps up Fox and Breitbart -- not to a literate constituency. A cult. This is the most damaging result of Zuckerberg's plan: a complacent, lazy, profit-driven, and amoral business.
2
As a real technologist (as opposed to MZ and his ilk), the fundamental problem is that such advances, while making it possible to do much good, also make it so easy for the dumbest and the most selfish among us to have an incredible reach to even dumber Americans than ever would have been possible previously. Congress needs to enact some sensible standards for social media and other so called platforms. Anyone who thinks these self enriching corporations are ethical enough to self police is incredible naive....case already proven. Even radio and TV broadcasting had entry level costs that worked to at least limit the damage somewhat. But the internet and blogs and social media have no entry costs. Example.....ISIS and any number of hate groups. Mischievous yelling of FIRE in a theater was long ago determined to not be protected speech. Social media is much more potentially harmful and needs a greater degree of thoughtful regulation. Are our congresspeople up to it? Would that it could be so. But their are others that can step forward. Where are our ethicists and others who are hiding in academia? Do something for the common good. Help us figure this out. Please. Then congress can act....in between planning their re-election campaigns. Perhaps....
4
The big problem is not that politicians lie, but that the electorate believes them or just doesn't care about what's true. In other words opposition claims of false statements simply create more loyalty. How dare anyone criticize what I believe, especially you.
I had a random conversation with a white middle aged guy waiting in Home Depot for service. After bragging about doing cabinetry for The Pentagon in DC, I asked if there was any signs of the damage done on 9/11/2001. His response was there was no damage done because that was all staged by the government. He further claimed that he lost family members in the World Trade Center collapse and everyone in his family that survive believes that was all perpetrated by the government, that the terrorist pilots were part of a conspiracy that covered up the real detonation by the government. Recall that this was a time run by a Republican administration.
Our citizenry is woefully uneducated and undisciplined in terms of finding out the truth and questioning their own opinions. Granted it's not easy to be smart or informed, but the demonstrated knowledge of the man on the street is appalling. We need to evolve by some means other than natural selection over generations.
I call for the NYT to offer free subscriptions to all college students everywhere in the world all at once.
8
Facebook needs to follow Twitter's lead and stop taking any political advertising. From the NY Times an hour ago:
"SAN FRANCISCO — Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive, said on Wednesday that the social media service would ban political ads on its platform, in a stark contrast to rival Facebook, which has faced blowback for taking a hands-off approach to political advertising.
Mr. Dorsey announced the decision on Twitter, saying he believed that the reach of political messages “should be earned, not bought.” He said online political ads present challenges to civic discourse, including manipulated videos and the viral spread of misleading information “all at increasing velocity, sophistication, and overwhelming scale.” He added that he worried that political advertising on the internet “has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle.”
Our democracy is way more important than money for Zuckerberg and his ilk. Ban the political ads. The malicious ones are too dangerous and we cannot depend on voters to see through them.
6
I used to follow Mr. Friedman's columns and read his books. His endorsement of the Iraq war undid all of it for me. I now don't follow him and I can't respect his ideas, opinions, or his values.
7
In addition to Trump and Zuckerberg, Mitch McConnell and William Barr deserve to be included among those most responsible for the destruction of American democracy.
8
Spot on, Thomas - except for the last line. There will be no infamy because all continuity of the future of humanity on this planet is at stake. The end of our species due to profound climate change is but collateral damage in our sociopath President's mind in his quest for immediate gratification.
4
Well, Donny Boy has always been a con man, he has always had a safety net: first his father's money, then his partners' money, contractors', and bankers' money, and sadly the American people are now his safety net. But Donny isn't really the problem, he is a symptom. Facebook isn't the problem, they are a symptom. The problem is the 62,900,000 good citizens who remain convinced that their vote in 2016 was the good and wise path to tread. Our mainstream middle class has to be adjusted to absorb those good people, and those good people must be willing to move towards the mainstream middle class. Having a one-third / two-thirds split between people who can't communicate with each other isn't a good way to go through life. -C
3
I agree with you 100%. People apparently have difficulty telling fact from fiction. I just saw Twitter is suspending political ads. Facebook should do the same if they will not edit them for lies.
Democracy only works if the voters are informed. This con man president is leading a cult, lying everyday to his supporters. And then there is the internet where the crazies meet with their wild conspiracy theories that Donald subscribes to.
Oh lord.
5
Oh? You mean you don't have to bribe government workers for service in the US? Try asking permission to modify your house in certain Southern counties...
The American people went wrong with Zuckerberg when they freely gave him their family photos and photos of their pets instead of charging him for them. Zuckerberg should have purchased these items when he created his monster. The phone call and letter were much more civilized and truthful.
5
Stop using Facebook and other useless social media. There is noting “social” about any of it. And dump stock of the social media companies. Money talks louder than truth for these reprehensible people.
6
We all know that Trump, McConnell and Barr are traitorous sellouts. It would seem that Zuckerberg is too. He just looks so smarmy and arrogant. However, if FB deserves regulation so does the fake news station FOX. For the most part it is a propaganda mill--where is the regulation for a "news" organizations that espouses lies and debunked conspiracy theories?
5
Mr. Friedman is correct in his analysis that continuing the path we are on will destroy our democracy. As a senior citizen, I can remember the Korean war and the reaction of the country when some of our soldiers refused to come home after being held in North Korean prison camps. Brain Washed was the diagnosis.
Our country is now brainwashed. Subjected to the denigration of our government by none other than Ronald Reagan. Forty years of right wing fascist talk radio, Limbaugh & his countless clones paved the way for FOX propaganda network. The internet sealed the deal to bring lies, totalitarian, authoritarian opinions and trash into every hand that can hold an I phone. Millions of brainwashed have no idea what the Constitution stands for, what our history is or where corruption abounds in business and government and why it runs unchecked so often. What you see today is what listening to hate 24/7 can do to a society. Their message is bash and smash everyone and everything and bring the population to heel. They offer no reasonable solutions; believing if they could just get rid of all the brown and black people, political enemies (liberals), immigrants, etc. life would be good. Trump is their guy. I am not optimistic civic sanity will return in my lifetime. I was born under Hoover's economy and may well die under Trump fascism. So happy I have no grandchildren!
9
We can only hope the populace wakes up before the next election. I believe however no one will. The country is headed towards a style of Government more comparable to Russia, the Philippines or Venezuela of whom the current Administration and their lapdog Republican Senators seem to have total admiration for.
2
It is insane for any society to let individuals have the power of millions. Being a billionaire MUST be made illegal.
3
Silicon Valley = social/societal re-engineering brought to you by bonafide psychos and sociopaths. Zuckerberg’s sadistic smirk in the photo accompanying this article says it all. And don’t ever forget, there would be no Trump presidency without social media. It’s the disastrous gift that keeps on giving.
6
The Republican's keep enabling Trump, time and time again, to the point where if he somehow manages to cheat or steal his way to a second term it will almost certainly mean the end of our democracy; in much the same way the victories of Cesar lead to the end of democracy in Rome.
18
Nothing lasts forever, even the United States. The sad aspect of the story is that we did ourselves in. We chase the capitalist dream, we accept the myth of American exceptionalism, we live the good life. We privatized the profits and socialized the waste products. We worship wealth and confuse wealth with wisdom. We are in thrall of "influencers". We fear our fellow citizens are getting "one" over on us. We send our sons and daughters to die on foreign battle fields, then thank for their service while many wonder where YOU were when we needed help.
Nothing lasts forever, even the United States.
30
On Facebook it is perhaps pretty simple, no political ads. On Trump, also pretty simple, vote him out, it won’t be long.
16
Fine with me if Facebook stopped carrying political adds. Wouldn’t be a bad idea for television to stop as well, by the same token.
24
In the Never-ending Story, Gmork says, "When it comes to controlling human beings there is no better instrument than lies. Because, you see, humans live by beliefs. And beliefs can be manipulated. The power to manipulate beliefs is the only thing that counts." This is the foundation of the president's behavior.
19
If Friedman is referring to the financial crisis of 2008-2009 I’d ask him to clarify because he said the government stepped in and saved everyone. What I saw was the regular people being fleeced and the bankers being bailed out and left to perpetrate more financial crimes.
23
If politicians can be forced to tell only the truth, can Facebook be required to force Tide to tell us truthfully if our clothes will really be clean?
4
The root of the ability of these few to drive a great nation and great democracy to our dangerous state is free speech. For the first time, and suddenly, technology makes possible free speech between virtually all Americans. We're exposed for what we are - a mob. There are no filters. Trump and Zuckerberg types can manipulate mobs. And they do. They encourage mistrust of our institutions and conflict among us.
The genie is out of the bottle. Who, if anyone, will succeed in changing how we think about each other and convince us that the ties that bind are stronger than the emotions of a mob?
8
Perhaps the end game is more obvious than thought. Should the United States remain "united?" Is it a good thing for Americans or the world, that it remain a single country? You can harken back to the Civil War or the various secession bubbles of the past and say, that's already been tried. So what, that was then. This is now. Clearly the civic virtue required for a government of the people has been shattered by the Trump government and, in fact, that's exactly what his most ardent supporters want. The old ways didn't work for them. It stuck them with increased immigration, gay rights, social programs to help the poor, even a black president. No wonder they now will accept only domination for their moral values and prejudices at whatever cost to formerly shared values of virtue and, yes, patriotism.
So, perhaps it's time to admit that America isn't what it used to be, isn't what it was intended to be, perhaps isn't even what it thought it was. Why not split into multiple countries, joined only by a mutual defense treaty -- a true league of states or common wealth, rather than a forced combination of warring interests. California and the West can be one country. The Northeast another and the rest can either remain as the Great Red Flyover Republic or form whatever countries they see best. Think of it as Brexit for America. Isn't that concept -- every man for himself -- really, in the end, Trump's only core value?
15
@Dan Shiells
This is a very very bad idea. The strength of America is due to the fact that we have a united country that spans a continent. We would be a minor regional player in every area where we currently lead including; military, economics (no more US dollar reserve currency), culture, digital technology and medical technology if we split. Just imagine clearing customs every time you cross a state line. Resist the urge to take your marbles and go home if you do not get your way.
6
yes I am already involved in the calexit forum to cede. we are sick of being led by a bunch of people that don't hold our values of clean air, inclusion and vigorous social support systems.
2
I have no sympathy whatsoever for these formerly all-powerful media gatekeepers, and their howls of pain, at being deprived of their former ability to define the national agenda. They pine for the days before social media, when information went one way only--from the top down, from the Establishment to the masses. They don't like two way media, giving a voice to the people, at all. . . The comical thing about such pundits is how the describe social media in their own country as terrible and ruining the country--But at same time, the users of social media in an enemy country, criticising the enemy regime? Why, they're incredibly wonderful and a beacon of freedom!
13
There's no problem here.
In light of the massive number of users and its ongoing and regular importance as a means of communication Facebook should made a public utility and regulated as such.
Zuck's reward is he can can choose to stay on board or go; up to him.
10
I agree with the article, the confluence of social media taking on a role as news media combined with the lack of truthiness in politics today is dangerous. We need leaders of both parties to put an end to this - at the local, state and federal level. Those who fan the flames of falsehoods and conspiracy theories are not leaders. Make sure to vote!!
6
This is a bit of a laugh, focusing on "Democracy" in the USA, or for that matter in many western countries...(Britain, Australia, etc). All of which is making China's system look quite tolerable.
And yet we have the gall to criticise others for "rights abuse", when we can't even seem to be able to govern ourselves. Democracy has been purchased. Now the buyers will do with it what they please.
6
Decades ago I came into contact with newspapers with political bents and would not print the name of an opponent of their favorite political representatives. You would think they were running unopposed. These were the only newspapers in their towns and their readers deserved to hear both sides of an issue and couldn't. Social media today is the same thing, but on steroids. It wasn't right then, and it isn't right now. Politicians will always lie about what they are promising, and there is no way to filter that. However their campaigns often drag opponents through the mud with lies and innuendo or put up false data if a new idea their preferred party opposes is expressed and that should be prohibited.
Marketing is so dominant in our culture that a "private" conversation on you phone results in marketing to keywords in that conversation. The same for a search on any topic. There is absolutely no online privacy. I can't answer my phone, telemarketers have ruined it for any other use. While I have lost any semblance of privacy, Zuckerberg and others are raking in huge amounts of cash from my information and I would prefer they not know what I am doing every moment I am online.
Quite honestly, it is all becoming very creepy.
12
Of course, Elizabeth Warren has made the break-up of the Facebook and the other 21st Century autocracy-monopolies a feature of her positioning in her run for the Democratic nomination. And, if she and her campaign can acquire their needed breakthroughs in forming a winning mix of face-to-face and digital communication skills, she can return to her educator role of . . . well educating . . . of spurring a voter enthusiasm for reducing of the unregulated power of the autocracy-monopolies that expose us all to the Trump path of permanent destruction. As shown by the Trump successes in creating that disorder to reinforuce the other overlapping autocracy, the top 1%, it creates the impossibilities for addressing voters' health care concerns or anything else of value to us all.
Of course, if Warren continues with her patently evasive responses to challenges requiring crisp, cogent and, most of all, convincing explanations to her health care and every other part of her platform, she’ll just be another smart person defeated by hubris . . . and not for the first time in Democratic Party history.
2
Policies that create the mega-rich and the billionaires are responsible for our "royal" political class in the USA. After twenty plus years of whittling away their fair tax share and regulations, the 1% have their plutocracy.
7
Sorry, I don’t agree that a media company such Facebook has a duty to fact check everything that is published on their site any more than the NYTimes should be responsible for fact checking the quality of apartments advertised on their site.
What is required is legislation that makes it a an offense with large fines ( read crippling here) for the party when they blatantly misrepresent the truth and certain circumstances the judicial overturn of results and disqualification from further nominations where it can be shown the candidates were knowingly and actively involved.
Having said that what Cambridge analytica Did last election was doing what had always happened previously, just more targeted and focused. The vulnerable have always been targeted and manipulated for political advantage. Now it is more obvious than it has been for while and results more unsettling.
6
A helpful step could be that when someone identifies a false political add and FB concurs that it's false, that FB offers a free rebuttal going to the same audience.
3
Excellent idea - the fee for every political ad includes a bond payment that is held in escrow. If the ad generates no proof of falsehood, the payment is returned to the advertiser. If the ad is proven to contain a significant lie or inaccuracy, the payment is forfeited to an opponent to fund a rebuttal.
7
I have been sitting hear for several hours going through these thousands of comments. Some really good thinking and criticism emerges. What it looks like to me is that our political economy needs some very deep and broad structural changes. Perhaps a revolution of some kind. First and foremost let the needs of our people lead not the free market. Even Adam Smith understood this. Fulfilling the needs of our people should be a precondition of doing business in our country not profit and power. The Zuckerberg's and the Trumps of the world are not here to serve others but themselves. Self aggrandizement and self promotion is their game. Unfortunately this is a pervasive cultural value that runs throughout the world of business and government. Those that are rich rule. Why would anybody vote for the likes of Donald Trump if they didn't think he was a successful billionaire and was capable of running the country. Which of course we know he is not and cannot (everyday revealing his incompetence) run the country. Let us hope that our fellows citizens will wake up soon and take back that which is rightfully theirs. By the vote, if not by force.
12
Well said, Mr. Friedman. There still is a looming disaster with the evident disconnect between many who can't fathom that there exists an existential crisis to our republic and their desire watch baseball, football or social media. When asked about 1930's Germany, they have no idea what you're talking about....
14
@Billy
Bill, you are correct on both points:
Few understand as our founders all did from their deep study of Roman history that --- "the disease of Republics is EMPIRE".
And few understand what the late great Jewish intellectual, Hannah Arendt, warned her own German people:
"Empire abroad entails tyranny (and looting) at home"
2
I agree. In the Cuban Missile crisis, JFK's death, Vietnam and Watergate, one assumed that in the end democracy would triumph, because both sides were basically good Americans. This is different. This is like the McCarthy experience.
11
From its start, Facebook touted itself as a force for democracy in the world.
Now, Mark Zuckerberg has decreed that Facebook will allow politicians and their agents to lie outright on the Facebook platform, without censoring.
That is wrong and dangerous to every democracy in the world.
Fox News produces and broadcasts its own, branded, propaganda, and their current formula requires some media legitimacy. That could change, if a media savvy strongman were to ever take over and decree a Media of State. Think North Korea, except with Trump Jr. next in line.
The faceless, ruble paying, propagandists on Facebook, don't have to worry about media legitimacy; Only how well their permitted Facebook lies are working.
Without any constraints at all, imagine what's yet to come in an age when movie can be made without using actors.
The Faceless Facebookers could bring about the reign of a dictator and the end of a free press. Nice going Zuckerberg.
9
How can a freedom of the press journalist take aim at FB for allowing political ads. ALL political ads are lies (at least to someone). Would Mr Friedman allow Trump or Fox news to decide which of his writings are "true" and thus publishable? When major TV networks can't agree on the "truth," how can you expect a social media outlet to determine that elusive quality. Et tu Thomas?
Good luck, America.
11
“All political ads are lies (at least to someone)”?
You do understand that opinions, points of view, and loyalties are not the same thing as facts, rights?
1
We're scared in Canada too. There's an old saying "When the US sneezes, Canada catches a cold". In this case, the US has seemingly contracted dementia, so not sure what that means for us. Say, where are my keys?
24
Vote every Republican out of existence and our country will flourish under democracy.
20
Wouldn't it be amazing if we the people could take back the power by using Facebook to reach out to those with differing opinions- our grandparents, our neighbors, our old high school pals who went off the deep end, and slowly, respectfully, work to challenge their views?
It worked on the Westboro Baptist Church Granddaughter...
can't help but feel we are barking up the wrong tree to expect Zuckerberg to do anything helpful at all...
3
Can we all just agree to refer to Fox News as "a conservative media outlet" because it IS NOT NEWS. There will never be any Peabody's, Murrow's or Pulitzer's from their reporting, because they are not a legitimate news source. And it saddens me that they have become a State Run propaganda machine. Trump has been telegraphing to us who he thinks he is or wants to become. Why would he court and appease authoritarian leaders like PUTIN, KIM JUNG UN, ORDAN, ERDOGAN, ASSAD...believe that he can do whatever he wants...ignore the laws...mock the Constitution...have his followers act like storm troopers...he wants to be one of these guys! And, sadly the Republicans are letting him become a tyrant to stay re-electable. They will get re-elected at the cost of toppling our Constitutional foundation. The Democrats and judges will be remembered for trying to save our Democracy, Republicans will be remembered for selling out our Democracy. They must do the right thing even it is unpopular. You didn't get elected for life. Republicans must look deep inside themselves and vote their conscience.
8
Tell Zuckerberg he has to start the political adds in BOLD print saying this add maybe true or false
2
@MMM like cigarette and alcohol ads?
Bravo! This piece says it all.
2
Says what exactly?
1
Actually, Mr. Zuckerberg does go home to an island, every now and then. He managed to buy a good chunk of Kauai from the Hawaiians isolating himself and his family from all who matter. I wonder what is wrong with him?
4
I do not go on FB anymore --- it is the tool of the Devil, in my opinion--- both personal pics and comments,,,as well as political. Bye, bye, FB
7
There is a valid debate about what role FB should play in making sure all "political ads" are truthful. I do not want FB or the NYT or Thomas Friedman deciding what I can read. I want to have all voices free to speak. I will make my own decision as to what is true. And any inference that Zuckerberg is as harmful to US democracy as Trump seems cuckoo to me. And Zuckerberg is deciding on his policy to make more money? Seems to me that there would be more money in being the person in charge of telling everybody else what "the truth" is.
7
"Republicans now have a clear choice: let the constitutional impeachment process proceed or attack the process, i.e., our legislative-judicial order. Alas, a majority seem to be opting for the latter."
Exactly! My representative, Tom Rice, has made it very clear that he represents only Republicans. He doesn't want Democrats in his town halls, in person or on the phone. I heard him say as much about a year ago. Despite lip service to bipartisan majority opinions among his constituents, on, for example, offshore drilling, he managed to come up with a reason to support such drilling anyway. He has made it very clear that contacting him is a waste of time if you don't hold the same opinion as he does.
Rice makes it clear that he wants to ride Trump's coattails, as he believes that SC, which will have no Republican presidential primary this year, thereby tacitly supporting Trump, will vote for Trump. He's not his own man; he's just a carpetbagger who comes from the south.
In other red states, the same thing is happening. It's shameful.
5
What Zuckerberg is most afraid to admit is that he has created a Frankenstein's monster. Facebook is just too big to manage.
He could, and perhaps should, ban political ads from Facebook. But most of the falsehoods peddled in FB this past election were not explicit political ads, but independent-appearing posts bent on spreading falsehoods. The bizarre Pizzagate meme intended to harm Hillary and the Democrats comes to mind.
To really prevent FB from being used to pervert our democracy would require an army of employees nearly as large as its user base, whose job wold be to sift through the mind-boggling daily volume of posts to check them for veracity.
4
Facebook is supposed to fact check every claim in every election in the United States? Then why not fact check all vitamin, supplement, and wellness ads, and why not the ads for Tesla claiming their hands free driving is safe. No company could shoulder that investigative burden. This column is ridiculous, people can and should decide for themselves, as they’ve always done.
5
Yeah, that was basically a greenlight to lie lie lie lie lie in political ads. And people will eat it up and believe every word of it.
2
Since when is it the responsibility of advertising media to fact check political ads? And how in the world can we expect them to do so when the rest of us cannot agree on what is true and what is not in the current political environment?
I found the last part of the AOC-Zuckerberg exchange instructive:
A.O.C.: “Do you see a potential problem here with a complete lack of fact-checking on political advertisements?”
M.Z.: “Congresswoman, I think lying is bad. I think if you were to run an ad that had a lie, that would be bad. That’s different from it being — in our position, the right thing to PREVENT YOUR CONSTITUENTS OR PEOPLE IN AN ELECTION FROM SEEING THAT YOU HAD LIED.”
A.O.C.: “So you won’t take down lies or you will take down lies? It’s a pretty simple yes or no.”
M.Z.: “Congresswoman, in most cases, in a democracy, I believe PEOPLE SHOULD BE ABLE TO SEE FOR THEMSELVES WHAT POLITICIANS THEY MAY OR MAY NOT VOTE FOR ARE SAYING AND JUDGE THEIR CHARACTER FOR THEMSELVES.”
IMO, Zuckerberg is exactly right ... I particularly agree with the EMPHASIZED comments ... and I would fault him only for not adding:
"If false claims are made in our political discourse, it is your job, congresswoman, not mine, to correct the falsities. If you and your colleagues do your jobs correctly and honestly, it won't be necessary for me to act as a censor of your political advertising."
7
Trump is just a symptom of a country that decided "economics is everything."
Let's face the reality, and all responsible parties (including any columnists who, ahem, had a hand in it) own up to their culpability.
It's no secret how a real estate-casino huckster became the society's standard bearer.
Circa 1960, a so-called "meritocratic" elite edged out the traditional Protestant establishment to establish a new order based on two principles and two principles only: Competition and Return-On-Investment, within a broader Darwinian, survival-of-the-fittest weltanschaung. Capitalism went from an economic system to a comprehensive religion.
The old left, with its dialectical materialism (economic determinism, culture/idea/religion relegated to adsciditious, incidental 'superstructure') morphed into the New Right, giving us Reaganism and in turn Clintonism, with the likes of Tom Friedman cheering on this neoliberal ascendancy.
The authentic left was swept aside by 80sand 90s prosperity (illusory or ill-founded though it may have been - based on borrowing for that matter), and we got a consensus till 2008 that money drives everything.
Zuckerberg, Bezos, Trump all part of the same market/business idolatry.
If "Wealth of Nations" is this religion's "Old Testament," arguably "The Lexus and the Olive Tree" is its "New Testament." If I'd written that book, I'd also be upset... and feel more than a little bit guilty.
4
Facts only matter if we truly value factual information, instead we value seeing ourselves broadcasting imagery or impressions, we are in a perpetual movie magazine with our lives being reported publicly, we want to craft the best narrative that we can about ourselves and our friends. Facts don't really matter in this scenario, but impressions and messages do. If we have enough money we can buy a significant internet public relations machine that will present ourselves just as we want others to see us. We can lace that image with just enough fact that it will be perceived to be accurate but in actuality it won't be accurate, it is just advertising.
5
Caveat emptor: the principle that the buyer alone is responsible for checking the quality and suitability of goods before a purchase is made.
I plead with educators to give our youth the tools to discern fact from fiction, to evaluate truth. Teach them to search for qualified sources.
Is it up to Facebook to tell the truth or to its readers to be critical?
HUGE (only kidding) thanks to Thomas Friedman.
4
I would worry more about an ex Vice President who may have colluded with Ukraine and China and was not properly investigated. He should not became a president before a thorough investigation.
Trump is right for doing so.
5
@Marika You don't investigate when there's no evidence of a crime, and you don't go through quasi-legal channels to shakedown foreign governments to do the investigation for you while undermining decades of U.S. foreign policy for nothing more than your personal benefit. 'Nuff said.
1
Zuckerberg is a self centered man with no sense of responsibility for his civic obligations. Trump likewise. Most Republicans, likewise. A less but noticeable proportion of independents and of Democrats, also, have weak senses of obligations to their role in assuring that our country remains united and democratic and respectful of individual liberties.
Individual liberty and democracy are not the same as self centered conduct and the determination to win elections in order to exert control over everyone else.
4
I'm not here to add anything new to all of the insightful comments. I just wanted to walk with all the other folks who are horrified and terrified and deeply deeply saddened at what this toxic cabal is doing to America.
Study the fall of earlier great empires (not sure the U.S. ever fully reached that status, being so young)...it comes when core groups of business, political and 'religious' leaders abandoned the core values of the nation and its founders in favor of self-serving gain, willing to corrupt the law and themselves to do so.
This may be how we end, unless we get really really lucky and the young actually do rise up to save America.
17
The tech moguls are modern robber barons. Zuckerberg is a latter day John D Rockefeller. In his day, industries such as oil, steel, automobiles, mining, etc were polluting, dangerous, and exploitive, but it took years to notice and more years to do anything about it. We're going through a similar period where profit "trumps" all other considerations and the politics are aligned with the beneficiaries of that bonanza. How long will it take this time for politicians to do what's right for the most people? As least the robber barons of old made useful stuff, unlike facebook.
10
Facebook should not be running political ads. Period.
18
The problem with all of this is that it's not just that Facebook is running the ads of politicians who lie; the problem is the ads they are refusing to run. For example, our women's history ads keep getting rejected by Facebook! Why? They are not political (one of the reasons FB says they can reject an ad, believe it or not!)! No, it appears that someone at Facebook does not want to run ads for women's history, which can include people who had advocated for equal pay for equal work, equal rights, abortion rights, etc. That is a real problem!!!
10
I don't particularly like Trump's behavior (i.e., language, tweets, etc) and understand that his behavior offends many of our citizens. With that said, I absolutely condemn those who have attempted to undermine his presidency from Day One. Those efforts have further divided an already divided electorate and done so in the face of numerous positive actions by Trump (i.e., tax reduction; eliminating the ISIS Caliphate; US embassy to Jerusalem; actions to impede illegal immigration; tariffs on China and others; arms and munitions to Ukraine; withdrawing U.S. military forces from northern Syria). As Congressional Democrats criticize his every action and attempt to find something/anything that might lead to his impeachment, he has been moving the ball forward. Those who oppose him either don't get it or do but refuse to accept a new reality: many of our citizens....enough to win Trump the electoral vote...are tired of politics as usual and refuse to accept politicians who are politics as usual. These citizens want action...not words. They want policy proposals that are realistic...not pie-in-the-sky fantasy. I will not vote for a Democrat or Republican, but I do support Trump and will vote for him in 2020. He has broken the political template, and millions upon millions of our citizens are behind him for having done so.
4
@Bob Straight Trump has undermined a century of political norms from day 1, starting with refusing to place his businesses in a blind trust and appointing completely unqualified people (including his children!) to political positions. He also knows nothing about policy or process and refuses to be educated by anyone other than Fox News. He clearly does not take the duties seriously and merely wants praise and to line his pockets through strategies our constitution clearly wanted to discourage.
Resistance to Trump's rule is NOT apropos of nothing.
7
@Bob Straight He has not broken a 'political template', he has corrupted it and used it for his own gain. I'm rather tired of Trump supporters saying how they like his policies but don't like his language and behavior, as if statements and behavior from the President of the United States mean next to nothing on the national and global stage.
That template you disdain is actually the law, the Constitution, integrity, honesty. humanity. (You love it when he brags that he could shoot someone in Time Square and not lose a vote? And means it?)
Policies are one thing, but breaking that template is actually breaking America, changing our expectations and acceptance of leadership from one of integrity to that of a mob boss who can do anything to get his way, with his supporters gleeful support.
2
Mr. Zuckerberg has not created our societal problems, rather it may be that Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc allows us to look into America's soul... some of it good and some of it bad. It is hard to believe that any political party, ethnicity, religion, race, economic group or media outlet can claim their members have never tried to advance untruths or unproven facts, to support their ideology, or maybe just to capture more viewers. If you don't like what you see in the media, on television or on social media, be diligent in researching on your own. If you need to express your opinion, use respect, truth and decorum to reach many more listeners.
4
Greed, the quest for power and fame and fortune have become this countries religion or primary goal. We fawn over the rich and famous and hold them in the highest esteem no matter what they did to achieve these things. "Winning" at the expense of everything else is what matters. We have sold the average American a bill of goods through the decades that almost anyone can become rich if they work hard and that's all that matters.
Other countries look at us and wonder how we live like this. They wonder what really matters to us.
In the last 3 years we have put on display the ugly truth and the ramifications of a president and his enablers bottom line has been exposed like an open sore. The problem with this is that there doesn't seem to be anyone of any importance on the right to try and check the runaway greed and self serving outcomes. They have no shame or decency and the final result looks like it might be scary...very scary.
8
The courts years ago ruled that falsely yelling "fire" in a crowded theater was not protected free speech. So, why can Facebook and other social media providers allow people to lie when the consequences (civil disobedience, war, election fraud, etc.) are much greater?
12
@Jake Scarne
That was overturned in the 1969 Brandenburg case. The fire in a crowded theater quote wasn’t even a legal decision- the legal decision was one by Shneck in 1919 which banned anti-war pamphleting. Even the judge in that case later realized how horrendous and unconstitutional that decision was.
1
The problem is that large parts of the country have already been broken beyond repair. The outsourcing phenomena beginning in the 80s has holllowed our economic opportunities in far too many regions and towns, by simply withdrawing capital investments in production and manufacturing facilities. Now America is taking a hard right turn to crony capitalism buoyed on white supremacy, and there is simply no memory among the left-behind of American democracy and its greatness. In short, we have followed market capitalism and it has led us into the sewer and is destroying the fabric of our national democratic self-rule.
14
Mr. Friedman claims that Graham and other Trump aiders and abettors will "live in infamy." Though I happen to agree that this will be the long view of future historians, in the short term, these people will live on in a right-wing bubble, insulated from contact with anyone of a different opinion, thoroughly convinced of their own righteousness, and positive that any damage they inflict upon democracy is justfied, if it means that their party continues to "win" elections. With a large portion of the electorate being either poorly informed or entirely turned off of politics altogether, I have to wonder what is being done to educate and better inform the U.S. voting public.
5
Rather than 'censor' palpable lies by removing them, Zuckerberg should commit sufficient resources to post corrections on the same page, in real time. There's nothing new in the insight that the correction never catches up with the lie--Churchill said the lie was halfway round the world before the truth had its boots on--nor in the recognition that humans are not impartial fact-checking machines, but instead seek out 'facts' to support their existing beliefs. The only effective counter is prompt vetting and posting corrections where the audience for disinformation will see them. This is the modern, technology-driven counterpart to the old Fairness Doctrine imposed on broadcasters until the ideology of 'all regulation bad' repealed it, along with financial oversight and other 'evils.' Like independent FAA scrutiny of aircraft safety--what an unfair burden that was on manufacturers, almost as bad as the opioid oversight rules.
4
On the Facebook point, it's worth pointing out that in the earlier days of the nation, almost all newspapers were partisan and often printed lies about political rivals. The yellow journalism of Hearst's papers even got us into the Spanish American War based upon a fabrication. I'm not saying false ads on Facebook are a good thing, but to say it is one of the greatest threats to our democracy is a bridge too far.
5
It's worth remembering that what we now think of as "the internet" was originally developed by the US military. With that in mind, its eventual "weaponization" should not come as a surprise.
4
Thank you Tom Friedman for writing what many of us are thinking. It’s a terrible tragedy for all of us here in the USofA that two greedy, power-mad lunatics happen to occupy the world stage at the same time.
10
No truer words have ever been spoken.
4
Mr. Friedman and AOC are naive to think that someone or something can protect them from ever seeing lies in the media.
Has the media ever been held to such a standard? On this very website there is an ad from Verison that reads; "5G Built right" Is that true? and who would know?
If we care about the truth why not expect Zuckerburg to protect us against lies in all content? Shouldn't he correct your high school classmates when they rant on about vaccinations or Area 51?? (Mr. Friedman: The Truth is Our there)
I wish someone could shield me from lies that are trying to pursued us and change our behavior but that really isn't possible. We are supposed to be adults and decide for ourselves.
7
I once worked at local TV station, and they had a broadcast standards department. That was to make sure that nothing obscene or inappropriate go on the air. Surely, FB can afford to have some sort of filter? Oh yeah, they'd rather not because they want to take the money that false ads bring in. Got it. Money over truth = Zuckerberg.
18
Facebook is the new religion. Its “megachurch” spans a third of the globe with 2.4 billion users tuning in many times a day to receive their daily dose of social tidbits and fake news. Pastor Zuckerberg overseas its vast empire. Facts are rarely checked. Billions of dollars are made intentionally peddling false news which gets people so riled up they inadvertently expose themselves to slick advertising which ensures rivers of money land up in Facebook’s coffers. Real news sources are often ignored in favor of media blitzes of unadulterated sludge.
Zuckerberg’s charm offensive before Congress turned out to be not so charming. He falsely anointed himself as a custodian of free expression in the global marketplace of ideas. His favorite response to fix Facebook has always been "we have more work to do."
He was unable to respond to a barrage of questions directed at Facebook’s inability or unwillingness to monitor content stating “I think people should be able to hear for themselves what politicians are saying.” This dishonest response ignores the simple fact that large segments of the population, especially older Americans, do not have the technical expertise to sort the wheat from the chaff.
8
Donald Trump has infested the TV air waves and streaming data devices to a point where he is like the main character in the movie The Truman Show but he is the evil dark version.
We are compelled to tune in to see what's next every day.
But if you remember the last scene to that movie, after Truman walked out the door of the set, was two guys eating pizza saying;
"What else is on
Yeah, what else is on
Where's the TV guide"
I think that's the real America. Trump will always be an infestation of our democratic principals for as long as he lives but when Trump is finally out of office one way or the other most of us will just change the channel and reach for something to snack on.
For Zuckerberg to come to Congress again to testify and act like he’s unprepared, is disingenuous at best...and worst is that it is absolutely intentional. It’s also insulting to AOC, who does her homework, and obviously works very hard to get at the truth. How she kept a straight face when he asked her, “Can you repeat that.” is beyond me. It’s disrespectful and insulting. Frankly it’s embarrassing he suggests that he didn’t do HIS homework by giving meandering answers that are unclear and obtuse; in effect suggesting it’s up to the readers of these false assertions in political ads on Facebook to determine what’s right or wrong, false or true, when HE’S the head of a huge media organization. If they can take down hate speech on Facebook, they can certainly remove inflammatory and false political ads. But, then, there’s the money. Millions and billions of dollars. He’d rather leave it to the consumer or some outside arbiter of the truth, than do something moral at Facebook. After a consumer of false information sees a correction of a falsehood, they are still more likely to believe what they FIRST read rather than a correction of it. So you see, he’s trying a stab at a “holier than thou,” amoral stance, rather than be a responsible dispenser of something that could easily be fact-checked before being published. AOC was a beacon of light with her focused questions. He came with “the dog ate my homework” attempt at deflecting responsibility, while SHE ate his lunch!
9
I have never been so afraid for my country. Even the 60s were not this frightening. Partisanship has gone feral, and seems to override truth, decency, and loyalty to ones country. Profit, as in the case of Zuckerberg, overrides any human value, and the lust for more is a priority over and above even our national security. Neither he nor Jeff Bezos, the Waltons, Elon Musk, nor any of the multibillionaire owners of this country have any loyalty to anyone but themselves. We face an existential crisis in climate change, and our economy is looking very much as it did before the crash of 2008.
The response of Republicans to the memorandum of the Ukraine phone call is particularly chilling. Even though it clearly shows Trump trying to shake down Zelensky for a personal favor in return for desperately needed military aid, Lindsey Graham and most Republicans seem suddenly, selectively illiterate. George Orwell described this very situation when he said, "The very concept of objective truth is fading out of the world. Lies will pass into history."
12
Legislature, Executive and Judiciary are 3 pillars of Democracy. It is dangerous that the Executive branch is trying to manipulate the Legislature and the Judiciary.
Media- the 4th pillar of Democracy has to make sure that the Democracy survives.
Our country is very close to becoming a banana republic.
Please go and VOTE next time around.
9
I share Mr. Friedman's thoughts however I do have a sense of hope that this nightmare of the Trump presidency will end soon for my own sanity.
I am very much concerned about foreign inference with the 2020 election, Republican/Trump false loyalty, social media, Fox, conspiracy lies and so on.
Biden appeared on 60 Minutes and he was optimistic if Democrats win in 2020. He was less optimistic if Trump is re-elected.
I want to believe that there will be be the same America that I grew up in, that there is hope for my children and grandchildren
3
Whether you are talking about Republicans or Democrats there will always be some percentage of the parties that will follow the script blindly and without critical thought. And so what we need is leadership. But the script written by the Trumps is unlike any script we've seen before. It is predicated on deception, counter deception and misdirection. It is built specifically to counter critical thinking or any pursuit of verifiable facts. We are witnessing open warfare on the very idea of the truth. There are no longer any truths that we hold self-evident. And so what we're left with is this: raw power determines what's true and it changes the truth on a whim or a tweet. Well Senators, what say you?
7
The country's stability is that we believe in myths even though we know they are not totally true. Any attempt to make them truer involves admitting that they are not true now, and this admission is destabilizing. Since to question them is to threaten our stability, we just question around the edges and in small pieces, and even this questioning is vigorously opposed as opening the door to instability.
Trump uses myths he would know are not true if he thought in terms of what was true. He himself is a myth that he believes passionately while knowing that it must be protected from inspection by anyone who has not drunk the Kool-aid.
Mr. Friedman is an astute observer of things who nevertheless stays away from questioning many of our myths, instead looking for ways to expand them to new areas such as technology without going into the sources of the reluctance to expand them.
In the economic sphere, questioning the stability of the market destabilizes it, so we dare not try to make it more stable, and those who like the market the way it is will do what they can to assure that questioning the market's stability will produce enough instability to scare us all into silencing or ignoring the questioners. Trump is pulling the same maneuver in the political sphere, priming his supporters to make the country ungovernable if he is deposed so he can argue that only he can save us from the disaster of socialism.
1
Keep talking, Mr. Friedman, keep talking. Remind everyone of the crimes of this administration! You have a bully pulpit bigger then trump's. And believe me, far more people trust you.
9
So the election flyer I got in the mail has been fact-checked and verified by the Post Office to confirm that a particular candidate’s opponent is a rotten scoundrel, and not to vote for him?
Or is the printer’s job to do the fact-checking?
Maybe the manufacturer of the paper?
4
Was anyone commenting here manipulated by an ad on FB into voting for Trump?
It’s always those mythical “other people” that no one has ever found.
4
What's most frightening to me aren't the pathological lying, the massive gov't. debt due to the wealthy paying lower tax rates than the middle class, the open racism even against legal American citizens, nor the vote rigging to steal elections and stop minorities and young adults from voting. The worst things are the incompetent neoconservative judges being appointed to lifetime positions specifically to carry on all of this long after Trump, Graham, et al are gone. American society is slowly becoming another Apartheid system where mostly older, rich, prejudiced, conservative white males will continue to buy politicians to continue to rule this country unabated regardless of which party controls the Oval Office and Congress.
3
Only the GOP senators can help this democracy right now. If, however, they continue to accept the status quo because they are afraid of losing their seats in Congress, then we are all destined to become citizens of a Banana Republic.
Trump must be impeached and thrown out of the WH for what he has done and continues to do on a daily basis. He is unfit to be president.
7
America has become dangerously polarized since Trump took over the White House. What’s is really scary, though, is the lack of loyalty the GOP party has for their country. It truly is about party and personal power over country. And what really frosts my flakes is the sheer hypocrisy of these politicians who want young Americans soldiers to sacrifice their lives while they won’t even risk losing their seat for to protect US democracy. It’s shocking.
8
"Do you all go home at night to some offshore island where the long-term damage you’re doing to America doesn’t matter?”
Well actually a lot of these people (nearly) do exactly that. Many extremely wealthy/influential people have bought themselves citizenship in another country (like say New Zealand) that are a long way from the perils of living in a crumbling country like the USA. They have their bolt holes sorted thanks, so you plebes will just have to deal with their fallout on your own.
1
Obviously, Dems know they can’t impeach Trump.
Why else would they hold closed door, one sided inquiries?
Maybe they should revert to Stormy Daniels.
4
Someone once said that the people who are most afraid are the people to be most afraid of.
Mr. Friedman fits that category.
3
@Alex
Mostly, I'd say Donald Trump fits that to a T.
He's been mortally afraid to release his tax returns.
He's been mortally afraid to admit that the crowd attending his inauguration was obviously smaller than Obama's. Even though it would be totally obvious that the inauguration of the first non-white President of the USA would be enormously historic.
He's been mortally afraid to have clear suspicions of foreign interference into his election be investigated.
He's been mortally afraid of any, any, even slightly critical comment on his behavior, decisions, actions, words.
As you say, the people who are most afraid are the people to be most afraid of. What this refers to is, that fearful people more easily lash out irrationally. As he has been doing, continuously.
4
Zuckerberg is definitely a really creepy looking dude, but his mannerisms are even more weird and awkward.
He seems like someone who's been completely insulated by his money from the real world and real people for his entire life.
I'm pretty sure he's never started a lawnmower or fixed a leaking sink. Maybe it doesn't matter, but maybe it does, because when you have people like him literally deciding what reality is for the masses, it would probably be a lot better if he knew anything at all about real people's lives.
4
In December, 2018, according to Gallup, 158 Million people outside the US expressed a desire to move here. That's 2 years AFTER Trump's election.
They understand America better than Friedman and most of the commenters.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/245255/750-million-worldwide-migrate.aspx
2
If Facebook is driven to bankruptcy and extinction by the Federal government who besides the Russians and other enemies of this nation will miss them?
Those people need to get a new life. And that should be easy!
3
This is the scariest time of my almost 83 years. Trump, Zuckerburg,
Murdoch...we can name so many, many more, including some written about in today's paper. In my judgment, Greed is the dominant driver.
I question what the end goal is of all of these rogue, irresponsible, power-hungry, vile billionaires. They have more than enough money, excessive power.
Where do they go when their accumulated actions destroy our world?
It's a mystery to me.
3
Social media is not a news station. It’s not CNN, Fox, NBC or ABC or CBS News (Capital N). It’s a platform. FaceBook has no news credibility or product. How can it “fact check” what anyone and everyone puts up there? I know it’s the tendency of well-meaning bureaucrats, congressional reps and media to save us—the public—from society’s evil forces. And maybe there needs to be some reasonable regulations or more obvious cautions. But I don’t feel great about Warren, Ocasio-Cortez and Friedman breaking up FaceBook or other companies for my sake.
6
@Alberto Abrizzi
They can reap data from everything that is posted but cannot be charged with fact checking the same stuff?
Come on.....
The photo of Zuckerberg looks like a kid who's getting to drive his daddy's Porsche but is way over his head in his ability, judgement and foresight for what he has taken on. A crash-up is inevitable and, unfortunately, the world is along for the ride.
3
I doubt it's occurred to Zuck that he could readily enable a serious fascist government to take control of the nation. And at that point, such a government will look at FB and say, "ya, hey, that's ours now."
I will, at that point, at least get a small smirk of satisfaction.
2
You can add in the evangelical leaders who have sold out their religious integrity for temporary power.
7
Anybody who is afraid of freedom of speach is, most likely, afraid of truth.
8
@Marcelo
A lot of what is not true is spoken and published and a lot of it is harmful. We seem to have lost sight of that.
Thomas Friedman is aligned with the Left hook, line, and sinker. To hold up Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as anything short of an absurdity regarding the Zuckerberg inquisition is to part company with reality. The same could be said regarding the Ukrainian foreign aid ruse. Former V.P. Joe Biden proclaimed withholding Ukrainian was his call unless Ukraine made administrative changes a short few years ago. This was essential to benefitting his son.
Mr. Friedman needs to do a quick 180 degree turn and get off the Trump bashing merry-go-round. What is indeed destroying America is the kid glove treatment of California Congresswoman Katie Hill. She has managed to escape any mention in the NY Times. That is equally scandalous to her pelvic adventures that more than cross the line resulting in her blame shifting resignation. Instead, M. Friedman, along with his lock-step cohorts just look away as she is one of them and they are all apparently flawless.
3
NYT, you want to run stories about how the social media giants are destroying democracy but you turn around and put the little f and little bird on your pages? You are enabling them to track us and monetize our internet experience
As Dubya said, "you either with us or you're against us" and in my book, you're just as bad as the Zuckerbot
I'm seriously considering cancelling my subscription unless this changes, like soon!
2
"Prominent figures in government, politics and commerce are behaving in ways that are so destructive of the core institutions and norms that underpin our democracy....."
Are you referring to Adam Schiff here?
1
Who needs ethics when there is money to be made?
This is increasingly the American model. Or was it always ?
Facts are fungible. Your fact is not the same as someone else's. The Lifespan of A Fact. Great play. It proves how facts evolve and change over time. A fact is in the eye of the beholder. So. Who gets to say which fact is the one worth keeping or deleting? Dangerous slope.
1
With anywhere between 5% to 25% of the total population of between 6 and 12 countries in the Middle East, South America, Asia, and EU having continuing 'street demonstrations', marches, and protests ---- and with the commonality that most of these rebellious events being targeted at vast economic inequalities, neoliberal capitalist unfairness, deceitful politicians, leaders who act like Emperors, and countries back-sliding from semi-democracies into non-popular governments that act like Empires, and which seem to be following the rough/militarist dictates of inept authoritarian leaders like EMPEROR TRUMP ---- it is beyond strange that 'we the American people' are not participating to any noticeable extent in much people's peaceful "Political/economic & social Revolution Against Empire" here in what to any serious journalists, and to all the rest of the world, looks like a Disguised Global Crony Capitalist EMPIRE only nominally HQ'ed in, and merely 'posing' as, any kind of democratic country.
It's no wonder that the young millennials in; Hong Kong, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Brazil, UK, Sweden, Lebanon, Egypt, India, Pakistan, etc., etc., et al. are all going into the streets to protest what they must sense as something akin to a Global Empire expanding its militancy and economic oppression against any attempt by 'we the citizens of the world' to vote with our feet in the street for global democracy instead of Global Empire.
The Fourth Estate must start exposing the Empire.
3
I concur, Tom. I am ashamed to admit it, but at the rate this country is going ("God, Guns, Guts and Profits"); or at least at the rate our political / judicial system is disintegrating (along with our public education, healthcare system and our infrastructure) I may one leave leave America behind. This is not the country in which I grew up and I don't have much hope for the future. Bob Woodward is right - we are and have been in a "Cold Civil War" . Sad to say that only another Pearl Harbor or 9-11 attack could even come close to uniting us. Trump I can write off as the most odious of scoundrels; as to his Republican enablers? I am flabbergasted that these guys line up behind Trump no matter what he says of does. I wonder how they will explain this to their children and grandchildren. Wait! I know - they'll say they did so as part of the "resistance" - the tiniest of fig leaves.
2
An EXCELLENT exposition of the dreadful and frightening state we find ourselves in. THANK YOU.
I have been extremely concerned about the state of our Democracy since trumps election. I am 76 and NEVER imagined we, as a country, would drop down this rabbit hole.
3
The country has been in a rabbit hole for a while madam. You just have to look a little harder at times to see it. Now even an extremely myopic person can identify it from a mile away. It us HUGE.
3
@Blunt Sir, we started this decent with Gingrich and have been getting deeper by the decade.
2
Fear? Yes. Befuddlement that a stable 4 out 10 Americans find Trump to be just fine? Absolutely.
But my main emotion is sadness.
Sadness that this might be the end of the USA as we've known it, and as it was founded.
Sadness that at age 61, I contemplate telling my 14 year old son to emigrate to Canada when he comes of age.
Sadness that if Trump-GOP governing attitudes do not change, my elder years will be hard.
4
I don't understand the targeting of Facebook as the perpetrator of bad deeds. The bad deeds are by the politicians, the political parties, their consultants, their PACs, and all the activist groups and individuals who decide to irresponsibly use Facebook to purvey false information. Facebook cannot possibly vet every posting and decide what is true, or true enough, or pure opinion. While Facebook is making money from these irresponsible posts, that is incidental to the wrongdoing--which is not by Facebook--but by those who do the posting. If our political leaders are prepared to shut this problem down, they only need to amend the law to designate social media platforms as publishers subject to libel and defamation liability. But the real problem is the absence of integrity in the polltical process today. How do we fix that?
4
@Mamc: I enjoyed your comment very much! As to your question of: "how do we fix the absence of integrity in the political process today" for one thing we could urge the ONE HUNDRED MILLION voters who didn't vote in 2016 to vote in 2020--of course they weren't all Democrats but that many votes included may have changed the Electoral College vote tally.
2
We don’t get to vote on zuckerberg, the most dangerous of all, by far. The damage he’s done can’t be reversed, and the damage he’ll continue to do will poison our future and the generations to come. Democracy has no defense against private greed.
We were designed to be an oligarchical republic: Senate (and often electors) appointed by state legislators, Electoral college, restrictive voting by the states etc. In the beginning we had enormous resources to exploit, and if the small indigenous population got in the way, well you know... Then there was cheap labor (immigrants) and free labor (slaves once purchased). During major wars there was some re-adjustment to the "common man." But when cannon fodder was no longer needed it was back to business. Perhaps you remember Karl Rove, the "boy genius?" He helped perfect the use of the mob to protect the oligarchy. Problem was, we then had the "mob," and the mob brought us Donald Trump. But do not fear America, the rising seas will change our internal calculus. Soon the cheap labor clamoring at our borders will be here, not to build walls on the border, but dikes around our coastal cities; first bricks to protect Wall Street, then Mar-a-Lago. Let's hear a chorus of America the Beautiful!
1
The problem of Facebook "publishing lies" is not Facebook's to solve, its part of comprehensive campaign and campaign finance reform, something, like our infrastructure, that has been ignored for years, decades even.
And Facebook is a drop in the bucket compared to allowing Faux to continue to masquerade as a vetted news organization, rather than revealing it to be the propaganda machine it is. The media, the 4th Estate, needs to clean its own house.
Finally, shouldn't libel laws cover ads that are lies? I know there are other First World Countries who have a fraction of the problem we have in America around this issue. And all of them have Free Speech and Freedom of the Press.
1
I was surprised that the article did not do more than mention in passing that an antidote to misinformation is quality news, especially quality local news. FB and Google currently control most content distribution online via sign-ins and tracking in the name of advertising. There are ways to bring this system down, in policy and in tech. One is cutting the tail off these companies’ ability to identify us by creating consortiums of news publishers and building a single sign on system and privacy enabled user data exchange for advertising. We have to fight back by rebuilding democratic systems, not just wait for elections or politicians to save us.
2
Thanks for this well-written, frightening op-ed, Tom Friedman. You could have entitled it "The Enemy Within."
Yes, Lindsey Graham and those you referenced "will live in infamy," but many more will be added to list, including most of the Republicans in the Senate and House, as well as those that have spent time in the DOJ since Trump's election to office, especially Bill Barr and Rod Rosenstein.
3
I must admit, I sensed the decline (regression, back then) of American democracy (I now prefer "Empire) upon the arrival of Reagan in 1980.
4
In the short term the problem is indeed with power and money grabbers like Trump and Zuckerberg. However, the long term solution is improving education in this country such that people will be able to do critical reading and thinking for filtering the facts from the fake. The by product of better education may result also in lower use of the numbing-dumming, endless time spent on Facebook (and the like) rather then on putting the face in a book. Until then, we will be continuing to be on a societal collapse trajectory just like any past empire.
2
It's taken Mr. Friedman a long time to realize what's wrong with our country, and from what he writes today, it's obvious he still is in the dark about most of it.
We've seen our nation since 1970 descend into an oligarchy of the rich, the working and middle classes neglected to the point where their incomes have stagnated while that of the top 1-10% has gone up 250 %. We are the only developed nation without health-care for all, free tuition in state colleges, in many countries tuition is free in all colleges, our minimum wage of $7.50 per hour is a disgrace, officially, we have 43 million people living below the poverty line, while some scholars put the amount of people living at near poverty at 100 million living.
Where has Mr. Friedman’s concern been since we began descending, during the Clinton and Obama period, into a third-world country? Trump didn't start it. He's merely carrying it out.
3
Can we pass a law that requires political ads to be PSA’s? If they’re free, there’s no revenue game. And if companies cannot afford to carry them, that’s ok.
2
This is a very optimistic statement: "one can only assume that they take the country’s stability as a given — that they can abuse and stress it all they want and it won’t break." I honestly don't think they care.
4
Let's not forget where Facebook sprang from: a misogynistic tool for snobbish male Harvard student to pick out who among the new female student class is worth their attention. It then developed into a venue that harbors artificial hoards of "friends" and exposes private information to do harm or to mislead. Facebook does not deserve to exits and should be taken off the web at once. This will be a blessing to Zuckerberg who will no longer have to face hard questions.
8
Like trying to reverse an election, folks like this disregard the value FaceBook brings to millions of people. But she and other wise one’s will save us. Mercy.
2
Could we bombard Facebook with enough false advertising to render it irrelevant?
If the gate is open, let both sides storm it.
5
When my kids were little, I was always aware that once you raised the bar (exceptions to rules, special treatment, etc.) you could not lower them. It’s just a fact of human nature.
I’m now thinking that, at least in institutionalized politics the inverse is true: ounce you lower the bar you cannot raise it.
I depend on my elected officials to have the best interest of the country in mind.
I expect my president to have some formal political experience. And to take, to some degree, criticism without spite.
I need my elected officials to commit to a necessary action regardless of the party involved.
I hope that dens of lie promoters see the long-term error of their ways.
I wish we could all be allowed to hold our opinions without being accused of dastardly ideas. (I’m probably at least a bit guilty of this one...)
A house divided cannot stand. Let’s revisit this while E Pluribus Unum thing.
2
I applaud the passion in this op-ed. They WILL live in infamy. But they don't care, and it will be too late to save our country.
3
Thanks to Thomas Friedman for using his editorial platform to so articulately state the facts that are so troubling to so many of us. Whether you support Trump or not; whether you enjoy following friends and family on Facebook, it is essential to recognize and decry the unprecedented attach on the institutions that are the very foundation of democracy that is being waged by the unlikely likes of Trump and Zuckerberg, are profoundly dangerous to our country.
1
I like what you wrote, I don’t usually like some of the stands Friedman takes but this was a good piece. Many of Zuckerberg’s performances before Congress are woefully lame. As you point out, look at where Facebook came from; Zuckerberg’s misogyny and his arrogance. The rules just don’t apply to him, do they? He is obviously quite taken with himself, trying to suppress his own smirking when being drilled by the excellent and prepared AOC. “Can you repeat that.” That’s the best he can do?! It’s like a third grader stalling for time in a spelling bee. This isn’t the first or the last time he’ll insult our intelligence and the honor of our honest politicians for grappling with moral problems, when he lacks a moral compass in the first place. It’s all about money, not his philosophy so poorly stated, that he’ll leave it up to people who are reading outright lies on his platform, and feels no moral obligation to refuse to do it. By the time people judge for themselves if it’s right or wrong they’ve already been influenced by what they just read. And Zuckerberg’s billions of dollars from false political ads puts him in the company of Fox, “news.”
1
I think he put it best, that the attacks on our trusted institutions, Trump calling the Constitution “phony”, and our arbiters of the truth in the FBI, CIA, etc. can no longer be trusted is making our heads spin. The Senate Republicans have stacked the courts with people like Kavanaugh, who lied his head off to get appointed. It is getting scarier every day. You look at someone like Zuckerberg who could afford to be doing good in the world, and he’s abdicating any kind of responsibility at all. I’m seriously considering ending my FB account.
2
All entries on Facebook should identify the entity posting the entry. That alone would go a long way to hinting of the veracity of the item. Also, obvious lies, those that have been repeatedly disproven, should be pointed out. I don't see anything in these suggestions that violate our free speech; after all, it has already bee established that crying "fire" in a crowded building is not protected by the Bill of Rights.
4
In the mid-1970s I started fearing for the stability of America.
A sampling of the major shifts I've witnessed includes:
1) elimination of tens of millions of jobs paying decent, livable (some union) wages--before, you worked hard you could probably buy a house;
2) deterioration in quality of education;
3) unprecedented cultural standard of self-gratification seeming to undermine family stability;
4) corporate growth replacing the bulk of family-owned American businesses;
5) loss of stable communities due to local investment moving away;
6) bloated corporate political spending influencing elections and lawmakers' decisions;
7) severe tax cuts for the wealthy;
8) glutting of "social programs" (due to tax cuts) combined with low-wage work result in permanent class of "the poor";
9) local, state and national legislation benefiting "big business";
10) a "bottom line" mentality replacing common decency among millions of people;
11) adulation of having money and power as primary goals of life.
12) centrality of screens in Americans' lives--beginning in childhood (!)
These combined influences seem to have led to our witnessing an imaginable collapse of this country's social, economic, cultural, moral and intellectual structure.
Mr. Trump and the forces that follow or abet him are all a result of this unrelentingly corrupted timeline.
We can positively affect some good changes for our "broken" country by getting involved in our local communities--power is local.
9
Lindsay Graham et al will live in infamy if the constitutional republic survives. I am in agreement with the basic premise of this column, which is that it probably will not, in the form that we know it today. We are in the midst of a transformation to something far worse, the form of which has yet to be determined. In the broad sweep of history, nothing lasts forever, and the USA as a "democracy" will be no exception to this.
2
I call the core problem of America at this time "generational amnesia and disrespect". Basically we as a society have forgotten why things have developed the way they have and why certain norms are norms. Previous generations put into place laws and practices that addressed problems they were facing at their time. Some of these problems are millennia old such as greed. As time has passed greed, which is very destructive and divisive, was simply this thing people should avoid. It was labeled a sin and the desire not to engage in sin was enough to make many people avoid it. Generations passed and now "Greed is good." We as a people have forgotten why greed needs to be called out and abolished. And there are those among us who have glorified greed and that those that amass huge fortunes are themselves people of great value despite how they achieved it.
There are reasons why our forefathers sought to elect those of exceptional character, why those that studied and worked hard in a field were valuable, why we spoke kindly to others and treated them with respect, why our Constitution had explicit stipulations regarding dealing with foreign powers, and on and on. We can't remember now why all that exists. There are many that profit and have grown powerful by destroying these norms and fouling the waters around the past. They denigrate education in order to create a world of act/react without attempting to understand a situation. They thrive on our ignorance.
7
The author is wholly mistaken. He wants adult voters in 21st century democracy to remain babes in the woods, trusting every big bad wolf to be loving like mommy. NO ! Please listen to what Michelle Obama implored US citizens in her last speech as First Lady, ‘You cannot take your freedoms for granted. Just as generations before you, you need to engage yourselves....join the national conversation....preserve our freedoms’. It is the DUTY of FB users to engage themselves to know the Facts of every National Issue. It is necessary for every FB user to read the political Ads put out by candidates, who certify their responsibility for the Ad as required by Law. And it is the Responsibility of every FB user to evaluate the Integrity of the candidate by checking if his Ad conforms to the Facts as he knows them. Mark Zuckerberg & FB are only showing the mirror to the candidate. Mark Zuckerberg & FB have no business to block the mirror. That is the Job of US Voters.
3
lI dont always agree with you, Tom. Especially your unforgivable cheerleading of the disastrous, needless Iraq War.
But this article should be mandatory reading for every American.
The most unbelievable, Goebbels-like part is that the radical right rails against "social media bias" even though they are by far the biggest beneficiary of it. trump is spending lavishly on Facebook in the swing states at this very moment, and Democrats dont seem to have a clue on how to counter that attack. Facebook may very well hand trump the election a second time.
3
Indeed, our country was founded on Patrick Henry's "give me liberty or give me death". Now Republicans sell out our freedoms for petty career gains - and shrug while Khashoggi and Nemtsov pay the ultimate price for their heroic stands. As Trump says, "Hey, we kill people too". Shame on the spineless cowards and their marketing ploy lapel pin patriotism. Shame!
4
Zuck’s smirky little face says it all. Bernie Madoff and Mitch McConnell have this same look, as do all con artists, scammers and sociopath grifters. It’s called “duper’s delight.” Trump’s duper’s delight smirk is far more exaggerated. Ivanka and Jared have it, too. Putin’s is much more subtle and controlled. But they ALL have it.
Note: watch how they all speak with their mouths in “O” shapes to draw attention away from their dead eyes. Watch their situationally inappropriate and strange gestures, body language and unnatural stiffness. Listen to how they use semantic games to manipulate the truth and other people.
These are disordered people.
2
@Misplaced Modifier
For me, Zuckerbergs facial expression in the photo shown is frightening, a smile that doesn't feel like a smile, feeling instead like something sinister.
1
We have become such a collectively stupid country! The only reason the habitual lying by the right wing works is because there are literally tens of millions of us who are not just willing to believe the lies, but who prefer to believe the lies.
In order to remain vital, a democratic republic must be made up of informed and involved citizens. The United States clearly no longer qualifies. God help it.
2
Tom. You are preaching to the choir. This excellent article along with your impassioned plea on CNN are ultimately ineffective. You have got to go on Fox and Limbaugh and have the guts and composure to make the argument to the millions of unfortunate, brainwashed souls out there who cling to their faith that the naked emperor is wearing new clothes.
7
We need to kids to vote. They aren't on Facebook anyway..
1
Zuckerberg took a helpful and socially beneficial site and turned it into this mutated vestige of what it once was. He is corrupt. He reassigns "personal responsibility"on facebook users when it should be his own, and it is deception at its worst. His insistence on encrypting messenger, (which will contribute to lots more child sexual abuse) is dreadful, which is telling me that no, he has no answers, he just has objectives. This is a sign that he has dissociated himself from the very society that he has helped in the past. Who knows if his aim was ever true. It's a tragedy, as I know many people who have grown with the ability of having facebook.
1
You are very right to fear for your country. It’s done.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand” A. Lincoln
1
So when one of our soldiers becomes a POW and gets tortured into making propaganda videos against the USA we don’t think very highly of them. Even though they do it under the threat of losing their life. Now look at all these Republicans in Congress who are making propaganda videos in support of Trump only because they fear losing their political office, not their life. I think they Cowards and Un-American, Traitor might be too strong of a word but don’t ever tell me that the Republican Party is Patriotic anymore.
Cui bono? Who will benefit from the end of American democracy?
1
Never has zuckerberg looked more like an android than he does in that picture. Are he and pence related?
3
Mr Friedman,
It's pretty simple.
It's all about the Benjamins.
Nothing else matters to this lot.
The most dangerous man in in America right now is Donald Trump. A very close second is Mark Zuckerberg.
One thing these two have in common is the love of mammon.
3
What is happening with FB was obvious & predictable years ago. I remember that way back when it was going public all the "smart" people were asking how this could be sustainable without an obvious revenue source. Even dumb half senile me immediately knew that they were going to steal every bodies personal information & sell it thus I never & never will open an account. The rest of this is the same make money at any cost amplified. Witness the real estate developer scam artist president and 3/4 of corporate America. Friedman is right.
1
Reassuring to know that I am not alone in being outraged and frightened by the shameless Republicans. I do hope that they will be judged harshly and slither back under the rock from which they emerged when the current President took over.
As long as the a Republican Party acts like the Russian Politburo our democracy ( what’s left of it) is in mortal danger. When I see these robotic Republicans spew the party line of lies and propaganda, I become enraged. The only way to remedy this is to vote them all out of office. They are immutable and have to be relegated to the ash heap of history.
1
The problem is largely an ignorant and uneducated citizenry. What other modern, progressive country demeans education as the United States does? Our own president brags about never reading a book.
5
The existential threat is comparable to that of WWII, with the same societal and oppressive patterns
1
Dear Facebook Employees,
You are all complicit in the destructive actions of your CEO in the same way that all Republicans are complicit in the destructive actions of Trump. There is zero daylight between you and the cowardly, boot licking Republicans in Congress. Stand up now and demand your company change its political ad policy immediately or live forever in infamy alongside Lindsey Graham, Devan Nunes and company.
2
Simple: Dump Facebook.
When it first arrived years ago, people were calling it Face-smash.
3
Thank you Mr Friedman for your sober assessment. The need for clear-eyed, fact-based journalism by professional writers has never been greater.
Robert Travers
I find it most disturbing when smart journalists like Mr. Friedman make a case for censorship and infringement of the first amendments. They are endangering their own profession and the citizen's right to hear a variety of sources for their news. I would strongly advise that Mr. Friedman read some of the comments on his column that simultaneously agree with him and demand banning of conservative news outlets like Fox news or Breitbart because it doesn't fit their definition of "truth"? This is the best depiction of the authoritarian censorship he is proposing.
2
Glad you finally woke up, Tom. Meanwhile you and your employer have been doing your best to "both sides" things for a long time.
1
It seems that Congress should also be investigating whether Biden pressured Ukraine to assist his son and his son's client. One sided coverage, as usual, from the former newspaper of record. I would rather get my news from the Russians.
2
Why should the U.S. Congress waste its time - and our money - investigating some already-thoroughly-discredited attempts to smear the most likely Dem candidate at a time when by far its most urgent duty is to investigate the already-publicly-confessed crimes of a sitting GOP president?
Facebook does not control the world
Facebook does not police the world
Facebook does not control what you read, think, feel or experience on a daily basis
Facebook markets you. You are the product. Getting your information, habits, likes and dislikes is what the platform is made for.
It is time to stop wanting something different from Facebook, the platform is doing what it is supposed to - selling you to others. It doesn't much care about anything else.
You are final arbiter of truth for yourself
You have agency
If you don't believe something, learn about it
Realize that if you choose to continue to use Facebook, if you choose to continue to be the product, this is not going to change.
You are not the customer, you are the product.
It is time to start thinking for yourself and stop expecting a platform to do it for you.
3
To Lindsey Graham and others betraying the Constitution and America by supporting this president's lies and corruption, historians will ask, "Et tu, Brute."
Right on Mr. Friedman! This president and his accomplices are bringing a wrecking ball to the core foundations of America: it's values and institutions.
I don't think these foundations will stand a second term of this administration. Republicans in congress better think twice before they get this president re-elected.
They better start now distancing themselves before is too late. For the good of America as we know it.
Avowed liberal here and Mr. Friedman’s column is a perfect example of what our opponents decry “the nanny state”.
Facebook allows dishonest ads and Facebook won’t police them.
So leave Facebook. Watch who else leaves.
If doesn’t plummet in value and usership, then the demand for integrity/accountability fails to exceed what FB supplies. And this lays squarely at the feet of the public.
A government is only as good and strong as its citizens.
1
I stopped using Facebook long ago (in early 2010) for what I now consider less egregious violations than these. Mr. Zuckerberg decisions have proven again and again that his guiding light is money. I suspect that the only reason he would make the intellectually and morally correct decision to do the obvious regarding facts would be if Facebook began to lose money. I hope Congress begins to regulate Facebook and brings back fairness doctrine to all all who dessiminate news. Mr. Zuckerberg's coldly anti-American, anti-liberal democratic decision has left them no choice. Our republic cannot stand against such disregard for all it stands for, especially for facts, for truth. He knows and understands this. Sadly, he doesn't care. He likely thinks himself above doesn't the long-term and very real complications his decision forebodes. Perhaps he yearns for the oligarchy this decision might build? If so, he deludes himself most of all. If he is successful he will find, as history proves again and again, he will pay an even dearer price. Hubris always begets Nemesis.
While we're discussing malevolent individuals and corporations, none has done more damage than Fox.
How did Trump and Zuckerberg get tied together, both in the title and in the body of this oped, as to the position that these men may be "breaking America"? The men, the power they wield, and how they have behaved over lots of time are not even remotely comparable, and thus this particular oped is not the clear-headed commentary I have come to expect and enjoy from Mr. F.
True: Zuckerberg gave a lazy answer to the House Reps, but he also published an oped in this very paper on October 25 that talks about how FB can help newspapers and support the pursuit of truth. Not cool that Mr. F didn't even mention it. Cynics will say that that endeavor is all about the money. I'm not so sure.
My main point is that it is a stretch to include all this stuff about Z and FB re what is breaking America. What to do about Fake News and FB is a separate (complicated) issue, and Mr. F should've kept it separate.
1
I did not like Facebook even when all it was was a social media platform. I believed that they were getting rich on people's information, and that they provided nothing we needed. I never joined and have not looked back. Now that Facebook provides news and takes ads from just about anyone, their reach and their power is out of control. Ultimately, it is up to people to be smart and critical consumers but I fear that the longer Facebook exists, the fewer news sources people will seek out and the more narrow their information becomes. It feels like it's just speeding up the dumbing down of America, and based on our election results last time, we're dumb enough already.
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I also see grave threats to our democracy.
From you, Mr. Friedman, and those who espouse the same disdain for freedom of the press as you do, including the editorial board of this newspaper.
You're concerned that Mark Zuckerberg is refusing to fact-check political ads. Mr. Zuckerberg is correct about this.
In almost all cases, fact-checking political ads is a fools' errand. Sure, easy to say ads that claim the sun rose in the west are false and should be removed. But the large majority of political ads will be shades of grey. Rather like the politically biased headlines that routinely appear throughout the liberal media, including this newspaper.
Who is to decide what's a lie, and what's merely a different perspective? In most cases, it can't be done, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
The solution to bad speech, or incorrect speech, is more speech. It's not censorship as you endorse.
People like you, Mr. Friedman, who think they always have the facts right and those who disagree have them wrong are the real threat to democracy.
At lot of people agree with you, Mr. Friedman, and feel that Mr. Zuckerberg should "vet" and censor political advertising. That is what is truly scary this Halloween.
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I feel like our country is in the lobster pot and, with the continued enabling by the Trump GOP to protect the President and deny any of his behaviors are impeachable and warrant his removal, the temperature has been turned up the 'medium'.
I feel like our country is truly, slowly dying.
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Stunning. Well said.
Thomas I have reached the same conclusion a while back. But where I beg to differ is keeping the focus on Zuckergerg. We forget that he is beholden to wall street and his stock holder. Congress can stop him in a jiffy if there is any decency left. Alas we know better. So Facebook will continue to have more freedom and " less regulation." My heart bleeds to what is happening to our country and sadly I don't to many bleeding hearts on the Republican side.
Most Americans believe that they can do whatever they wish because the constitution gives them permission....no matter if what they do is moral or immoral, decent or indecent, or right or wrong. With this kind of total freedom the future will have no need of prisons, law enforcement agencies, nor law books. Why? Because if the law allows you to do what you want, then there is no wrong you can do.
Blessed are those who do not see yet believe. To those who believe in His name: who are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
I wonder when Repubs have taken women back to barefoot and pregnant (at least as close as they can get), and we live in a society that thinks civil rights depend on your net worth, what America will be left? Do they think having a Russian overlord will end when Trump leaves?
I don't think Z wants more profits. It seems he wants power (I mean, look at the photo!). It's almost like he's a mad scientist looking to conquer the world. 15 years ago, that may have sounded like a ludicrous statement; not so much anymore.
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The liberals who voted for Ralph Nader, Jill Stein, and perhaps soon will vote for Tulsi Gabbard have to take some of the blame for this gigantic mess. By making perfect (in their minds) the enemy of the good, they managed to give us both Bush and Trump. I think Democrats and liberals in general should be able to admit Al Gore and Hillary would have been a big improvement over Mr. Iraq War and Mr. Wannabee Third World Dictator. But maybe it's more fun to shake your fist and participate in meaningless demonstrations after one of these guys are elected.
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I know this must tag me as even older than my 52 years, but why does anyone look to Facebook for NEWS? Posts about your kids going to college, yes; pictures of dogs and sunsets, yes; even posts about people's political opinions, yes. But using it to gain factual information about issues of the day? It seems there are many people who out there who have lost (or never had) the ability to say to themselves, "now wait a minute, consider where you're reading this, is there a chance this isn't based on fact?"
4
Clinton won the most votes in the 2016 presidential election. The majority of Americans voted for her to be president. Trump only moved into the White House because of the Electoral College. For future elections scrap the college and make the majority vote the decisive one.
3
Friedman writes "one can only assume that they take the country’s stability as a given — that they can abuse and stress it all they want and it won’t break."
Actually, the problem is not if America will break, it is that the people doing this just don't care if it does. Like characters from Atlas Shrugged, they encountered a dystopian America of the 1970's and when their alleged fixes turned out to be making a new American dystopia, well, at least they own this one.
The Law of Unintended Nerd Consequences.
1
It's ironic, isn't it, how the First and the Second Amendments can lead to pathological situations, when interpreted strictly (i.e. dogmatically) within their original context?
The Founding Fathers had no idea that the arms of late 18th century would evolve into weapons of mass destruction some 200 years later, nor did they have any idea that the dissemination of speech would become possible on such a global scale through media that can be easily turned into a massive propaganda machine.
But while gun control is far from where it should reasonably be, some implicit sensible restrictions still apply. It's safe to assume that none of your neighbors keeps a tank, or a missile launcher in their garage, right? But then why should we accept that a large scale social media organization can't be regulated?
5
I have written to the comments section may times about Zuckerberg and his insidious arrogance. Perhaps my comments don't warrant publishing, BUT why at the bottom of Mr Friedman's Opinion piece is there a notation that reads "follow us on facebook".! Why is that phrase used in most publications?
Facebook could easily become obsolete if all those who believe it to be abusive in its influence would stop advocating "follow us on facebook" and simply remove the promotion of Facebook!!!
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What a load of condescending claptrap from Mr. Friedman. Those "core institutions and norms " that he speaks of have long ago failed most Americans. Why exactly does he think Mr. Trump got elected, anyway? It wasn't to uphold them! Then, he wants to protect "average citizens" from those lying politicians by essentially suggesting censorship on Facebook, and presumably any other medium where their message is spread. That is job of those citizens to determine what is believed or not, Mr. Friedman, no matter what anyone thinks of the medium or the message.
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I'm just as frightened as you, Tom Friedman, maybe even longer than you--I saw the signs of Trumps power abuses starting with the inauguration accounting issues.
In addition to Zuckerberg, Graham, and Trump smashing the country to smithereens, you should have mentioned Bill Barr.
He's put least 5 nails in the coffin of American democracy by conducting a criminal investigation of FBI and CIA individuals who were so alarmed by intelligence intercepts of members of the Trump campaign that they reacted as any good security experts do: investigate.
If that isn't Putin territory Barr is taking us to, I don't know what is. He's weaponizing the DOJ to appease Trump's lust for vengeance.
Trump gets away with everything because he's enabled. He's getting plenty of help as he brings us all down.
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@ChristineMcM
Barr is breaking a vital aspect of our democracy, namely, the nonpartisan independence of the DOJ and the FBI.
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@ChristineMcM
Yes. Bill Barr may be the most dangerous man in America. Trump is undisciplined and knows no laws; Barr is disciplined and quite good in abusing the justice department.
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@ChristineMcM
Trump has shown that our system is not very strong as a system and how craven careerists can be
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The more I watch Mr. Friedman and read his books and columns the more I am impressed by his intellect courage, and integrity.
What an awesome man! Keep on doing a great service to humanity and our cherished values. Thank you for "Not Being late" to the debate in this crucial time in the History of this
great nation. Totally agree that there will be many whose name
will live in infamy as long as the Republic exists.
3
As a Republican once said, " when war comes the first casualty is truth," and I am continuously abashed that the political and civil strife of the day is more akin to war than to robust debate of policy. At this point discussion of policy and platform are meaningless for most of the electorate and the other expression, "all is fair..., win at any cost," also is quite prevalent. The inconvenient truth is that facts do not matter to many of our fellow citizens, certainly not as much as being right. Perhaps the weight of the lies from the White House to the Senate to the House will eventually bring our Republic to its foundation. Or hopefully remove the scales from our eyes that are preventing true exceptionalism.
1
Zuckerberg ought to be careful about his position on this. He may have the political clout right now to hold that line, but I can foresee a near future in which a Democratic Congress and President feel that Facebook (et al) is deserving of more than a little regulation thanks to his position. Better he should self-regulate now to avoid what could be a harsh penalty later.
Never been a Facebook subscriber. As an outsider it seems like a) a colossal waste of time, and b) a constant source of stress. I listen to friends and family complaining that so and so posted something offensive or hurtful.
One friend called me worried that I may have seen that her sister had a child out-of-wedlock in 1950, and the family of that child posted it. A friend tells me her sisters post things ganging up on other family members. I recall my sister excitedly telling me she connected with a woman from my high school class. I responded that she never spoke to me then and I really have no interest in what she has to say about anything now.
Mark Zuckerberg seems smug and entitled, has never had to be accountable for anything, and cares only about himself. Oh, who does that remind me of? Never a thought for service or giving back, just always taking. To think that his *idea* could have such consequences as swinging an election and he doesn’t care sickens me.
I give thanks daily that my parents gave me a moral compass.
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This isn't Facebook's fault - they're acting as a corporation ought be expected to actin our mixed market economy. What we need is stronger regulations on political AND news communications; they can't be allowed to deceive. I'm all for free speech, but there have got to be some parameters and there aren't any.
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It is Facebook’s fault. They are knowingly trying to hide and gaslight the public about their operations. They have a responsibility as a corporation operating in public trust to be ethical and ensure they are not harming their customers and society at large. Our government has been failing to regulate corporations, but that doesn’t mean Facebook is absolved of (or has carte blanche to engage in) unethical practices.
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It seems to me FB should be held accountable for paid advertising it accepts that is clearly false or unsupported -- in at least the same way whatever the standards are for television or newspaper advertising -- but that it should not be held accountable for the opinions that people express among themselves any more than phone companies, the U.S. mail, email carriers and apps, should be held accountable for what people transmit using them.
If advertising on FB is not held accountable for being trhue, then, since Mark Zuckerberg insists on letting the market determine what should sell in a laissez-faire manner, word should just get around fairly fast that anything and everything advertised on FB might be a scam and cannot be trusted. What would that do to advertising revenues, if all advertisers on FB were to be considered to be Nigerian princes emailing you?
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If it's too hard to figure out which ads are political, too hard to figure out the truthfulness of ads or content, then how about no ads at all for 90 days before an election? Surely that would be better than just shutting down the site. At least for Zuckerberg. The rest of us would be far better off if Facebook just went away.
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Finding it strange that some people don't find FB accountable, it's the "your honour, I didn't know it was illegal" defence shouldn't really cut.
Not sure in the US, but in the UK we have an advertising watchdog overseeing whether what companies profess to state is factually accurate.
You would think ads meant for social media are vetted right?
Fascinating if all social media stopped tomorrow. Maybe that's one for Black Mirror.
1
You don't have a constitutional right to freedom of speech in the UK. Your government can and does restrict it....Most people in the US, but not most commenters here, like it that way.
Everyone should recognize that Mr. Friedman is advocating censorship. It is easy to condemn dissemination of lies, but "Truth" is politics is a slippery thing, and has always been recognized to be so. Giving a big corporation like Facebook, or the government, the power to determine which political ads are "true" and which are not is the real danger to be feared.
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@David There would be plenty of advertising dollars from elsewhere, besides political campaigns. When someone owns an empire, then it is their responsibility to make those choices that will benefit society. It is the respectable thing to do. If he wants to be just another cog in a trumptopian and tabloid world, then he is on the same plane as all the worst in history. It's sad because facebook was not ever supposed to be a "news" platform, let alone a "fake" one. Advertising can corrupt; we always used to refer to the Madison Ave deception, but it is now a multi-headed monster hitting us over the only head we have.
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I'm not sure its Facebook's place to be the arbiter of truth in campaigns. How about the Federal Elections Commission? Every official political ad should have to have the "I'm so and so and I support this message" and the FEC, not Facebook should be on the hook for making the determination. Couple that with public campaign financing and you create a more civil campaign discussion.
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In the final analysis, George Santayana said it best:
* Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
*Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.
* Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.
* Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.
Matt Zuckerberg and his friends should take heed of the obvious. It’s the road to global nationalism all over again
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Get the money out of politics. Public funding of campaigns would go a long way towards solving this problem.
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I'm supposed to trust FB to do fact-checking?
We need an entirely new system to address the spread of lies in our political discourse.
I have no idea what that system should look like.
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The lowest common denominator in our political morass is the United States Supreme Court. It is now filled with ideologues who come to the court with preconceived notions of what decisions will be handed down when opportunity presents. It was not so long ago that the court was seen as nonpolitical as possible, and nominees were advanced on merit, not on political correctness. Antonin Scalia was confirmed 98-0. That will likely never happen again for any nominee regardless of education, acumen or judgement. When/if the SCOTUS comes to be seen as a banana republic tribunal we will have reached the final stages in the disintegration of a once great democracy.
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Some years ago there was a TV show that depicted the rise of MZ and Facebook. At the time he was a student at Harvard and he and others developed Facebook. His "partners", two twin brothers, were cut out when Facebook began to prosper. Subsequently the brothers sued and won a substantial amount of money. Point being, MZ is only interested in His pocket book, not anyone else's, least of all society and his country. That said, I don't see how Facebook, and others, can be charged with policing their sites. Delaying publication of ads until fact checked? Banning Facebook and others that are similar? A serious problem with no easy answer.
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What if Facebook were to be broken up into two new companies, an unconstrained Funbook that Zuckerberg can run, and a Trustbook constrained by publishing and media regulations, both with rights to use the platform IP, and all current Facebook customers and staff were given a free choice on which to join as Facebook is closed down?
As an educator and political activist I never have been this scared about the future of our beloved nation. Where are the Republicans with integrity?
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Folks who care -- really care -- about our country can do one easy thing right now: Delete your FB account and elect to never again be a FB participant.
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What Trump and Facebook have in common in worship of the idea that money is power and power is everything. A wise person once said that "the root of all evil is the pursuit of money", and this in a nutshell is Thom's point. So accepted with all of the implementation details related to campaign finance, gerrrymandering, Trump lies, Trump willingness to support a corrupt Saudi regime for money, etc.
But we Americans, especially the dominant White male culture, built all of this. It is the dominant White male culture that is working to protect itself in all that we see. That culture is being exposed for it sexual and power abuses and has decided to burn down the country rather than give up its power. Sharing power with the more diverse real America seems to be death to the dominant White male culture and its values. The only question is whether there are enough White males who see a better more inclusive future find the will to come together with a more diverse coalition to save the country. If not, we will get what we deserve. History is full of this kind of failure and disaster and we are no better than others in deserving the consequences of our actions.
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@G. Harris Hate to bring religion into your world but In Christian tradition, the love of money is condemned as a sin primarily based on texts such as Ecclesiastes 5:10 and 1 Timothy 6:10.
I don't use Facebook. If you don't like their content, then don't subscribe. Or start your own internet company.
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who is Senator Lindsey Graham? He’s the senator who’s always willing to ask American soldiers to make the ultimate sacrifice in places like Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq — to protect our precious democracy — and he’s the senator who’s always unwilling to make even the smallest political sacrifice to protect democracy when it’s threatened at home by this president. Well said
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Zuckerberg, Fox News Graham, McConnel, Grisham, they are all symptoms. Symptoms of a rotting core. The essence of distinguishing right from wrong is, I believe, innate, it takes an effort to pervert it.
The institutions in place to keep us on the right track, from basic, inarguable morality to responsible leadership and justice are being sacrificed at the altered at the alter of unfettered capitalism (financial, moral and ethical).
The framework that kept the nation from falling off a cliff is now considered a hinderance. Its gone from "do what's right" to do what's right for you".
Trump and the other people mentioned above symptoms of the disease, not its cause, the people of this nation need to look deep inside ourselves and hope we can still find the truth and then fight for it and accept nothing less.
3
I can't help but wonder what would happen if millions of people who dislike Zuckerberg's tactics and obfuscation as well as his obvious support for Trump and foreign influence in American elections suddenly, on the same day, all disabled all of their FB accounts?
I'd like to see ol' Zuck get a reality check...
3
After MZ's feckless appearance before Congress, wherein his tortured answer about freedom of speech felt contrived and disingenuous, the smartest thing he could do right now is to stop running ALL political ads. Get Facebook out of politics.
Facebook's ongoing desire to monetize EVERYTHING clearly leaves the moral/patriotic/ethical compass out of the picture.
Given MZ's questionable Facebook provenance (violating a fiduciary relationship by stealing the idea from a client that hired him), I have never had faith in or respect for MZ.
Now, I place MZ is in the same category as the "PharmaBro"; someone that wouldn't think twice about colateral damage as long as there's money in it for him.
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"Just once I’d like to see Zuckerberg look into a camera and say: “I will take Facebook stock down to $1 if that is what it takes to ensure that we’re never again an engine for the perversion of democracy in any country, starting with my own. Facebook is not going to accept any more political ads until we have the resources to fact-check them all.”"
If he did so, he would be subject to suits for malfeasance. He has a legally defined fiduciary duty to not do anything that is harmful to the long term value of the company. He is performing that duty, and very well in my opinion and that of the investors.
Secondly, I will quote Pilate and ask "What is truth?" There are factual errors, some of which are deliberate and some of which are accidental. There are factually correct statements which infer something totally in contradiction to reality. There are unprovable claims that may or may not contain truth within them. Which of these are to be disallowed in Mr. Friedman's Utopia and who decides which are which?
Why does Facebook need to accept political ads at all? Sure, it is profitable. But clearly there are good reasons to pursue other ad revenue sources and leave that one behind. What say you Mr. Zuckerberg?
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America has a deadly virus in its polity which makes $ (not really necessary to its founder Murdoch) by whipping up fear and rage in its viewers who, although not a majority, are positioned throughout our voting districts such that their votes have more impact than their actual numbers. This minority had led our society into some very dangerous waters. FB seems willing to join in this destruction by adding to the misinformation (for a fee of course). We'd better figure this out quickly before we find irreversible damage to our society. Our constitution and system of balance doesn't look so strong now with such flawed leaders.
1
The precursor to Facebook started out as a way for college students to connect with one another.
Donald's run for the Republican Party nomination began as a way to elevate the Trump brand.
Look at what happened.
We need protections and safeguards. People will give reasons for not stiffing so-called "freedoms," but their reason giving will be based in abstractions. We are dealing with the actual concrete manifestations of what happens when protections and safeguards are not in place.
What about the freedom FROM the potential destruction of our nation and its social fabric??
How did we ever survive without Facebook in its current form? How did we ever survive without Donald Trump? How did we ever survive without Fox News and the other instruments of "The New Asymmetrical Ministry of Propaganda and Enlightenment?"
We are witnessing the decline of a once great nation: Our own.
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Finally someone, Friedman, gets it right. Mark Zuckerberg hides behind freedom of speech because his platform makes a fortune from political saboteurs. He does not run an FCC regulated company. Facebook owns no broadcast stations, which are required to accept any political advertisement provided that the candidate appears in it and endorses it or for a ballot proposition the organization that paid for it is identified. Facebook is not the press. Freedom of the press does not apply to it. It does not enjoy freedom to cooperate in and profit from the subversion of American elections. It is like a giant open telegraph system, an equal opportunity drawbridge going down for everyone who can pay. If Facebook is going to profit from this trade it ought to be held responsible for policing it. If it were an eleemosynary institution that might be another story, but it is not.
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We are now in the early episodes of 'Chernobyl' on HBO, where the reactor is melting down and those who are telling the truth about the disaster are either dismissed or continually sent back to the core of the reactor to verify a truth they already know. The decision is between covering it up or starting the clean-up process. They chose the cover up not to upset the tyrants of the communist party.
When a political party refuses to acknowledge the truth in front of them and continually dismisses everyone who blows the whistle as « politically motivated » or « the deep state », you have a country that is no longer capable of assessing its own reality. We can expect everything to be falsely inflated or beautified as a result: the stock market, the « positive » impact of Trump on the economy, the state of the planet and everything in between.
As George Orwell wrote in 1984, which now reads more like prophecy than fiction: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” And the real horror here is that we are at risk of growing numb to Trump’s flood of lies.
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Americans are often savvy consumers of material goods, but dreadfully uninformed consumers of ideas, and this disparity is in large part the result of the antiquated curriculum in our schools. As a retired teacher I'll argue that the public schools do a wonderful job in some respects, but how many high school grads could tell us much about the Constitution or the democratic institutions that underpin it? Most Americans don't even know what gerrymandering is. Sure, Facebook should take down ads containing blatant falsehoods, but who's the ultimate arbiter of fact vs opinion? Mitch McConnell voted for the Green New Deal: an obvious lie. AOC is a dangerous socialist who will destroy free enterprise in the USA --is this a violation and must come down? Students must be taught to evaluate sources and that information is more important than affirmation. Education has got to get ahead of the technology curve; Congress will always be behind it. Let's not just throw Zuckerburg under the bus; let's look at the schools and how we teach civics and American history. Public education is going to have to do its part in saving our democracy.
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The only way to allow the GOP to recognize that they cannot assume that the madness continues is vote them out. Once they start seeing falling numbers, they will realize the error of their ways. We can point fingers and say the President and his base are out of touch, but it is the GOP who set up and continue to support the madness. Tuesday November 5th can be the day to send that message.
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The current situation has been 35-40 years in the making.....the rise of the "moral majority;" the Reagan deregulation (abolished the Fairness Doctrine) enabling 24/7 political news broadcasts that no longer required both sides equal time (hence the rise of Limbaugh and Fox); the radicalization of republican leadership initially led by Gingrich, etc.
The writing was on the wall when Clinton was impeached for lying about an extra marital affair. It continued with the illegal invasion of Iraq based upon actual fake news created at the direction of the republican president; and the right wing politicization of anthropogenic global warming. America as we knew it was done at that point. What's happening recently (Citizens United, Garland, voting rights, continuous attacks on American institutions, guns everywhere, Trump) is merely a continuation of established republican tactics.
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Zuckerberg has a stunningly unsophisticated view of the role and responsibilities of FB in this era he helped to create. Although he isn't an adolescent anymore, he sounds very much at that stage of moral/ethical development.
While he posits absurd arguments that FB cannot be the arbiter of truth and falsehood, he uses the extreme argument to skate by, and reject the responsibility routinely accepted by the vast majority of news sources.
There are certain facts that are easy to check and FB COULD check them. FB could also agree to run ads along with rebuttals or qualifiers provided by credible sources. Claims made in ads of a particularly incendiary nature could be required to provide documentation and/or sources/source material to support them. Some ads from non-reputable sources might be rejected outright.
Yes. Any of these would take time AND cost money. But then again, so will regulations imposed on Facebook.
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Has anyone ever tried to deactivate their facebook account? It's like a bad dream you can't escape from. Certainly not easy. Would recommend mass boycott.
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Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for expressing the exasperation of so many so well.
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I agree with Friedman. I was wondering if Facebook really deal with this. Sure it would be tricky to establish and implement an effective policy, would entail expense and some errors, but our democracy is under serious threat. Some of my friends seem to depend upon Facebook for much communication, but I've deleted my Facebook account. If a real percentage of us would do this they might take notice.
1
Over the last 15 years Americans have had an Epiphany that those who are extremely successful follow no ethical rules; indeed it is the unethical practices that they "get away with" that makes them successful.
AOC apparently grew up in that time frame, and doesn't remember when honesty, integrity and competence ruled America. How could she?
Agree with Friedman that this is the worst situation in which I have seen America. Reversing this trend towards common fraud being acceptable as a necessity for winning in competition back to trust, faith and loyalty to Country as the hallmark of America seems possible now.
3
Don’t allow political advertising on Facebook, any kind of political advertising, simple
3
These are FB's policies on misinformation
Facebook prohibits ads that include claims debunked by third-party fact checkers or, in certain circumstances, claims debunked by organizations with particular expertise. Advertisers that repeatedly post information deemed to be false may have restrictions placed on their ability to advertise on Facebook. Find out more about Fact Checking on Facebook here.
https://www.facebook.com/policies/ads/prohibited_content/misinformation
It is apparent FB is making exceptions for Trump. It is obvious what FB agenda really is. Zuckerman can't even be honest about what FB policies really in front of congress and America and why he is making exceptions for Trump.
1
So insightful, yet hard-hitting piece. So much so that I am afraid to post it on FB for Trump supporters to shout out their distorted narrative about what is really going on,
Crazy as it sounds, Facebook should suspend advertising functions during 2020. Shut it all down.
Boycott Facebook until this is remedied! Yes we can.
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Why ARE all you people using Facebook? I can't stand the site and deleted my account in 2009 once I saw most everyone else in the US was using it. It's as fake as MZ.
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That photo of Zuckerberg. I looked at it, and thought of Adam Lanza. Now, I can't get it out of my head.
TF’s position does not make any sense. What does he want Zuckerberg to do? Hire a bunch of left leaning journalists to edit and clean up all political ads posted on Facebook?
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Mr Friedman - makes matter of fact assertions here that we are to assume are truthful and /or valid..
He is one of those thought elites who lorded over so many false narratives over the years..
Sad to see the crown is now lopsided on his head.. pretty soon no one will be paying attention..
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Powerful. Chilling.
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I think Facebook should be treated like the old National Enquirer—if it’s on Facebook, it’s a lie.
3
Zuckerberg and Steven Miller look alike except for the hair.
After seeing you on Anderson Cooper and reading your last two op-ed pieces you are the new Paul Revere to get us through this mess
Why can't people just stop using Facebook?
That would solve the problem in a democratic way.
3
We have three groups of people in this country:
- those who fight for truth and justice
- those who fight against truth and justice
- those who fight for profits regardless of what is true or just
5
If I could hit the recommend button 1000 times, I would.
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I feel like I am standing by watching as thieves loot our great Democracy, and we are powerless to stop them.
Impeachment will not be enough. All those in government who enable Trump must go. They have had the power to do something but for whatever reason, be it greed, lust for power or just plain immorality, their inaction is leading to the erosion of the foundation upon which the pillars of this nation stand.
The power and reach of Facebook and other social networking platforms are responsible for the base supporters of Trump and the Republican party's continued existence.
If we are to survive as a nation, changes will have to be made. I will leave that to decent, clear headed men and women to figure out. all I can do right now is vote Democratic, as I have always done and will continue to do for as long as I can draw a breath.
It is high time to pass Journalistic Slander laws.
That law would make it a crime to publish a misleading fact or untruth, knowingly or should have known within reasonable inspection, to the public or audience beyond one’s immediate self.
I came up with the idea when Sara Pallin claimed end of life counseling as a form of death panels and the fallout was the idea was stricken from the legislation. Shortly after my own father passed away and I experienced a grief so great I couldn’t think straight for about 18 months, let alone navigate through the process of his death. It was so incredibly sad - but with end of life counseling all of that is done in advanced. So Sara Pallin appears to have done an act of obvious and overt evil for the purpose of scoring political points.
In my view such people should be heavily fined and placed behind bars.
The extended analysis says that this is a form of treason.
How? Well, under the theory that sovereignty is vested in the electorate manifested by the vote, to purposely wrongly inform the public is an attempt to manipulate them into acting towards the publisher of deceipt’s interest, not the interest of the public.
This might actually clear Zuckerberg, though maybe not - he should have a duty to do reasonable fact checking and report on those that are attempting to be deceitful, but all authority of the law should be waged against those who seek to lie to the public for purposes of manipulating the electorate.
You hit the nail on the head,
"This is all about money for Zuckerberg, but he disguises his motives in some half-baked theory about freedom of the press — so half-baked that he couldn’t explain it even when he knew he would be asked about it by a congressional committee."
Lies and deception seem to be OK with Zuckerberg and his ilk as long as the cash keeps flowing. Facebook and the social media can be effectively used to undermine our democracy by purchasing ads even if they are obvious lies meant to confuse and confound voters. Thus Putin and Zuckerberg become allies, Putin buys ads as weapons to be used against us and Zuckerberg makes millions as he becomes ever richer at the expense of American democracy.
It seems the Democrats now want government to make everything they don't like, illegal (break up Facebook).
Where is the "live and let live" ethos? The personal freedom? The willingness to let others think as they wish so long as it doesn't hinder you from doing the same?
Facebook ads aren't hurting anyone, and the fact that you can't accept that some people may think differently than you shows a lack of emotional maturity.
3
If Mark Zuckerberg's stand on the truth won't drive people away from the monster that is Facebook, then what will?
Any voter who makes decisions based on what they see and hear on social media, without checking other sources for veracity, is 1) either lazy or willfully obtuse, and 2) has no reason to complain if Trump doesn't need a moving van until 2025.
1
It is amazing how powerful the NYT is.
I didn't vote for Trump, not really a fan.
I was never a huge fan of Facebook or Zuckerberg either.
But thanks to the NYT and their constant and relentless badgering of Trump, Facebook, and Zuckerberg, I've become a defender of the three.
The NYT is more dangerous than Facebook.
I have tremendous sympathy with your desire to get rid of Trump. The Dems and their news media allies have continuously been barking up the wrong tree for some legal way to bring Trump down. The Mueller report was an embarrassing fiasco. The problem with Ukraine and Syria situations the Dems are guilty of worse offenses than Trump. Fomenting regime change civil wars like in Libya and Syria, or feeding ethic civil strife like in Ukraine, the Dems in particular are little better than proxy war string pullers. Biden did in fact use his influence to get a prosecutor fired who was investigating the company that was giving Biden's son Hunter millions for being his father's son. The defeat of rabidly anti-Russian Poroshenko in the recent Ukraine presidential election to Zelinsky removed a pol who wanted to encourage confrontation with one seeking peace. The NYTs thinks that makes Zelinsky an obvious dupe for Putin. The dishonest cynicism that is fed daily to the NYTs readers damages them as much as Trump. The anti Russia hysteria these folks continue to gin up with the idea that it is a game changer in the 2020 election is consternating. Then the McCarthyite tactics against those who the Democratic party establishment want to damage for their ability to undercut their biased disagreeable message. The fact is the Democrats are seriously in trouble. They may once again snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as in 2016.
1
As an observer from outside the US, it looks that the real battle — uglier and nastier — is still to come when Trump is either impeached or defeated at the ballot box. He won't leave the White House with grace and the transition will be messier and chaotic as never before.
2
Mr Friedman, for the longest time you were one of the poster children for false equivalent centrism in American Journalism that enabled and apologised for the slide you describe in this article. You and others of your ilk regularly claimed that both democracts and republicans misbehaved equally and that the centrist higher ground was in scope for both sides.
Finally, more than 15 years since Paul Krugman started calling out the Republicans for increasing extremism at odds with and harmful to the USA do you jump on board. For you sir, the chickens have come home to roost.
P.S. that is a very creepy photo of Mark Zuckerberg, if he was starring in a remake of the Manchurian Candidate for the social media age it would not be out of place.
2
"Trump, Zuckerberg & Pals Are Breaking America
Not in the Cold War, not during Vietnam, not during Watergate did I ever fear more for my country."
What nuttiness. Needless war after war, bloody as can be, makes no difference to the guy but Facebook is scarier than Vietnam. I suspect that Cambodians and Laotians and Vietnamese would disagree.
1
The impeachment investigation has focused on the “shadow” diplomacy conducted by Guiliani to push the newly elected,rookie politician, Ukrainian President to investigate the Bidens and “Crowdstrike”.
What needs to be explored as well,is the official assistance Trump gave to Guiliani’s business endeavors. Trump recalled the respected and experienced ambassador to Ukraine because “he lost confidence in her”, as Rudy’s clients sought her removal to ease their takeover of Ukraine’s gas company. To assist their effort Robert Livingston
was apparently throwing stones at Yevonoviitch from his glass house on K Street. Trump obliged his consigliere’s desires and career diplomat for no bona fide reason.
As one diminutative Trump hand washes Rudy’s dirty hand our national interest is scrubbed away.
1
Did you have a similar panic when TV was invented? You should fear people that can be manipulated by Facebook more than Facebook. Maybe you should argue that some people should not be allowed to vote or have children? As for Trump calling for an investigation of corruption in Ukraine and the 2016 pre-coup... why not? This is not a conspiracy theory it is now a criminal investigation and the facts have been out on the open for years. Trump does not have a monopoly on taking self serving actions. As a matter of fact he is minor league (as opposed to big league) compared to the mainstream party pros. I can't believe that you are not well aware of this. So what is your angle exactly beyond spreading the Times variant of conspiracy theory? Only "facts" that you approve should be published? There should only be one approved source of news and call others should be suppressed? The fact is the Times does not have a very good record for reporting the facts and this all looks a lot like damage control.
2
Wow, great column. And I've savaged Friedman many a time; this was spot on.
1
“Yeah, right, as if average citizens are able to discern the veracity of every political ad after years of being conditioned by responsible journalism to assume the claims aren’t just made up.”
Apparently Zuckerberg has more faith in the average citizen than Friedman. Friedman wants the fact checkers to be the slaves of the left and the NYT.
What is killing the country is not Trump and Zuckerberg, it is that we no longer have a free and independent press, but a press that has that has a stake in the outcome and is willing to slant its reporting accordingly.
So very well-stated, Mr. Friedman.
When Thomas Friedman leans toward pessimism it's time to worry.
Tom Friedman and the rest of his NYTimes brethren rant and rave about social media. Is this because social media is the biggest competitor to traditional news organizations? Too much self-interest here to buy his argument for censorship. Let readers and viewers decide.
1
Zuckerberg or any other person in charge of media should be allowed a certain degree of latitude but should not be allowed to publish something that they know to be a lie. 
While there are many truths in this opinion piece, unfortunately I fear the NYT front page as much as I do Facebook, CNN and Fox News. We need to return to real journalism that reports facts in context and where so called journalists don't use their tone and poor context to taint news reporting. Lastly, the NYT needs to do a better job of distinguishing opinion articles from news reporting.
3
And yet the Times runs Trump's lies and calls it news. They do it to make money by selling papers and views. It prints op-eds with blatant lies. It runs advertising with lies. All for the same reasons Facebook does - to make money. Why do criticize Mark Zuckerberg for doing something your employer does every single day? I suspect it is because they are a rapidly expanding competitor to your business, which is contracting.
1
Sounds like you "fear" because the country rejected your chosen one. Maybe you aren't fearful for your country, but instead coming to the realization that your country is rejected your opinions. Don't blame us. Look to yourself first to see why you should be fearful.
"God gave Noah the rainbow sign,
No more water, but fire next time,
Pharoh's army got drownded,
Oh Mary don't you weep."
Faith in the turn of the Big Wheel is at hand as human kindness is widely and sorely needed.
2
Someone DID design a plan. Vladimir Putin. And it worked perfectly. Not only is he destroying the US but the EU as well. He must wake up every day with the biggest smile on his face and just laugh and laugh at what idiots we all are.
2
Mr Friedman has lived through the Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, the cold war, Vietnam, Chairman Mao, Watergate, Iran Contra, the assassinations of John Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert Kennedy and other varied and sorted historical events. So have I and I remember Khrushchev saying we will bury the United States without firing a shot. Suggesting the United States would fall from within. I understand 100 year and 1000 year plans while
most Americans focus on seasonal changes and quarterly bottom lines. Why should we be surprised that what most of the world held up as an example of how to govern and grow economically is seen as yesterdays news. Mr Jefferson's experiment flails as the electorate stands in the corner mumbling to themselves. That's why the electoral college was necessary to keep the disenchanted away from the palace! All hail King Trump, long serve and long live the King. We are at the tipping point either we follow the constitution and bring the King up on impeachment charges and try him or we go quietly into the night.
@ek perrow
Sorted historical events, or sordid historical events?
Thank you Mr. Thomas L. Friedman for your much needed observations of what is happening before our very own eyes. I once considered myself a Reagan republican. I'm now ashamed of ever having voted republican in the past. Where are the 20 senate republicans who will protect the Constitution if facts clearly demonstrate that the president has abused his oath of office? Are there 20 republican senators with the courage to protect and defend the Constitution if facts prove the president tried to bribe a foreign nation to interfere in our next election in return for promised foreign aid? And this right after facing impeachment for the same thing in our last election. If the senate republicans give the president a pass on these charges this will mark the beginning of the end of our Republic because democrats will eventually win the white house again and the precedent will have been set for future democratic administrations that winning at all costs is what matters and the president is above the Constitution. The attorney general will be subservient to the president and justice will be defined by the president. Why stop there, who said the president has to obey term limits once elected? There's simply no end to the payback in store for republicans when the political climate changes in the other direction, and as time has shown again and again, political winds always change directions eventually, just like the economy.
Regarding the AOC / Zuckerberg exchange, what if the question was: Would you allow an ad to go forward by a GOP candidate who says "the only way to eliminate the deficit is to cut taxes in order to boost revenue"?
Is that a lie? It's important to understand what exactly is the standard with broadcast and print advertising so we can be better informed about what the facebook standard should be.
1
When you have $77 billion, you don't need America. You can buy your way anywhere, buy anyone, buy anything.
Why do you think FB was working to create its own form of currency? If the US Dollar were to collapse, or the Euro, or the British Pound, FB and Zuckerberg would be just fine--FB's power would be even greater.
The rich really are different from you and me.
2
The thing that I found most interesting was Zuckerberg's response to the question of lying on political ads. I think that while political lies are perfectly protected by freedom of speech, Facebook is still a company that legally has the power to ban and censor; this is why they have the ability to ban hate speech and threats. I feel that lies in political advertising absolutely have the potential to harm everything from individuals to the entirety of the world. If every candidate is able to advertise their lies to over 2 billion people, chances are, the majority of those people are not going to be able to discern what is fact and what is false. If our information platforms fail to regulate the validity of the information, then informational platforms might as well not exist.
4
"They" did this (erode our society and ruin our country for short-term financial gain) long before Trump and Mr Facebook came along. "They" are the wealthy elite who installed a B movie actor as President and sold the country on "greed is good", deficit spending, deregulation, and adoration of all that is wealth. They brought back the Gilded Age, and now, here it is, in all it's ugliness and destructive power.
How appropriate the a climate change-driven fire is about to wipe out the Reagan library in California.
2
Yep Mr Zukerberg is a great champion of Democracy alright. He is so eager to defend it that he will bend Facebook policies to retard freedom of expression on his platform to do business in China. Surely done in the name of a Democratic Republic. BTW don’t newspapers have to vet political ads and not accept them if they contain defaming lies?
@John Marksbury
The answer to your question is no. New York Times vs. Sullivan, 1964.
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1963/39
Please note that if the media source definitively KNOWS the information is false, it IS liable. So if you're Facebook, the safe course (legally) is to check nothing.
Time for Facebook to be broken apart. FCC rules need to be extended. And Congress needs more A.O.C.s and fewer spineless GOP Senators like Moscow Mitch and Lyin Lindsay Graham.
1
I'd rather be an American than a RepbuliCON
2
Right on, Mr. Friedman.
Why is no one discussing the role of the voting system in creating the situation we have now?
Consider the following, how many Democrats, given a choice between Ted Cruz and Bill Weld would choose Cruz? How many Republicans, given a choice between Steve Bullock and AOC would choose AOC?
The problem is that the current voting system gives Democrats zero say in the choice among Republicans with the result that the Bill Welds are being hollowed out among the Republicans and replaced with the likes of Ted Cruz, or at best with someone like John Kasich.
What would change that would be pairwise-rated voting in which all voters rate all candidates and each candidates runs in a pairwise-contest with all other candidates. This would mean that the preference between Weld and Cruz for any voter whose top preference, or top five preferences, are Democrats would have equal weight with that of a voter whose top choice is a Republican. Counting such preferences would result in the election of more Welds on the Republican side and Bullocks on the Democratic side which would mean more elected officials capable of working across the aisle.
The arrogant smirk on Zuckerberg’s face speaks volumes.
1
Worse than Vietnam--where American troops killed American citizens? Worse than Watergate, where a president ordered a burglary? Worse than...get real, Mr. Friedman.
What really bothers you is this: "...citizens can no longer cognitively discern fact from fiction and make informed judgments essential for democracy." Oh? Speak for yourself--not for me. In fact, I can "cognitively" understand that the New York Times is now "contextualizing" its news report; and "cognitively" I know that my beloved New York Times (which I have read and, occasionally, competed with for many years) are now "modeling" its newsroom on a jihad to unseat an American president. This is the real tragedy of our times--and our Times.
Not sure what Mr. F. is suggesting that Facebook do. Does FB get to define the line between lie and truth? As the purveyors of dishonesty become more and more clever at selling their product, what tool does FB use to determine who gets in and who's told to go away? And by the way, where are the cries for Fox to be brought in front of Congress to explain how they call themselves a "news" organization while spreading the most horrible lies?
304
@JimBob How about Facebook just not accept political advertising. That would work to solve the problem of political lying, but not the problem of Zuckerberg's greed.
155
@JimBob - if they can’t keep poisoned icing off of their social media cakes, then they should stop pushing cakes until they can. If they can’t keep lies out of their political ads, they should not allow political ads on their platform.
(Assuming public health is a greater value than profit, that is.)
92
@JimBob , Facebook should ban political ads on its platform, period. FB is obviously unable to police its content for accuracy and they should be held to the same standards for publishing the truth as any news outlet. People should not be getting their news on this sort of platform, anyway. But as Mr. Friedman points out, it's all about profits for Zuckerman, consequences for the integrity of our elections be damned. I hope that more and more people come to see this, and cancel their FB accounts.
82
So, I see...if a politician lies in a campaign ad (& of course, they've done this since time immemorial) it's not their fault, it's not their problem, it's not that they s/b held accountable...no, no, no, it's Facebook's fault that the malificent politician lied and it's Facebook that should be held accountable ---
Democracy, Mr. Friedman frets, is crumbling from within, as we speak, because FB should be, but is not, held accountable for politician lies??? I'm sorry, I just don't understand this argument in light of something we call the very first amendment to the US Constitution.
Best... PJS
80
@pete No, Facebook need not be held accountable for politicians lies - but it should be held accountable for spreading falsehoods.
Here's a thought experiment ... if FB could make a lot more money by refusing to air obviously false ads than by allowing such ads to go forward, what do you think the FB policy would be?
It's all about the $$, not the first amendment, or anything else.
It doesn't take a genius to follow the trend line and see where this behavior leads. We are on the very sharp edge of a razor ... and if we don't start protecting our institutions, they'll be gone before you know it.
97
@pete I sense we are of like mind, however, FB has transitioned from a hub of recipes, birthday cake pix and e-vites, to one of NEWS dissemination.
As such, they should be held to the same high standards of fact checking as WAPO, NYT, BBC etc. The newspapers, for the most part, don't MAKE the news, they report it - as accurately as possible. If not, repercussions await.
As to how they would check everything that gets posted. Well, hire a horde of people to fact check. Not feasible?
Stick to cat videos.
114
@john Well said. There is the reason the FTC has long had truth-in-advertising laws. When a medium has the ability to achieve a broad reach and influence public opinion, it is illegal to publish demonstrably false claims or misinformation. Facebook should be help to these standards. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising
69
While people in Hong Kong, Lebanon and Chile flood the streets to demand change, Americans seem content to simply express their displeasure through their computers and phones. If the republic breaks, I get the feeling it will not be with a bang but a 'sad face' emoji.
8
@Tim, you might have missed it, our kids took to the street all of last year to protest gun violence deaths. They also protested that adults aren’t doing enough for combatting climate change. They also gathered by tens of thousands in Bernie rallies. But you know the media won’t cover these.
3
GOP reactionaries are already being they will get their guns out if a Democrat is elected President due to such an outcome being a 'coup'. This is our generations Civil War moment. Watch what happens if Elizabeth Warren gets elected. Recall Lincoln only sought to block the extension of slavery into new territories. But the South went nuclear anyway and tried to destroy the country. The GOP is set to grab every branch of government and will challenge any Democratic victories. Of the 3 branches they own the Supreme Court (16 of last 19 justices placed by GOP Presidents) and Trump has stacked the other federal courts. The Electoral College lets the GOP own close Presidential elections even when the Democratic candidate wins the majority. GOP gerrymandering allows them to own numerous state seats. Every Democrat, Independent, Green Party, moderate, liberal etc. must come out to vote in the next several Novembers - for the one, best candidate - if we are to save this country.
8
How to change things? Look at what all other intelligent countries do. They usually do not allow campaigns, political ads, etc. unless it is within the "period" of the election. When you allow unlimited time, the winner is the person with the most money. Always. It was not supposed to be this way.
6
I wonder what the feather is that will finally break the camel's back, but it's possible that the country's democracy is at --or nearing-- its breaking point.
Memo to the "Trumps" and "Zuckerbergs" contributing to this breaking point: the people can only tolerate so much. There is a lot of fear and anger out there on both sides of the divide. What is happening in Hong Kong might look like a snow ball fight compared to what could potentially happen here.
1
I feel as if these problems would not occur if the democratic party was not so focused on impeachment themselves. Many will argue that our government only cares for themselves, constantly trying to keep their reputation. well, this in all lowers their reputation, as it begins to seem as if they only care about their image and not their countries. I don't blame them, however, for its the reaction that is expected. when attacked, we do whatever we can to suppress those attacks and turn down any claims against us.
To cut to the chase, Trump can not be solely to blame for his focus on himself and nit his country, for the democratic party is also at fault, for producing the hatred, news, and opposition against Trump for which he must counter-act. Instead, both parties should focus on the growth of our nation both economically, environmentally, and relationship wise.
Kuckerberg is just doing what this country had told him to do, build an economic empire and be a tycoon. This country is founded on democracy as well as capitalism, we can't ask him to cut down profits to help out politics.
2
Declaration of Independence, In Congress, July 4, 1776.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."
Trump and the Trumpublicans are a serious threat to our Nation's future. Their toadies threaten a 'civil war' if Trump is held accountable. I fought for my country and our rights before and will do so again.
2
Freedom of the press? Face book is not the press. It's a social media platform where people post pictures of their food, cats and dogs. Does Facebook post any original news content of its own? No.
1
Mark Zuckerberg and Trump have more in common than meets the eye. Both are soulless, solipsistic purveyors of untruth to serve their own ends and without any regard to the needs or even the fact of others. They both have hijacked American Democracy by appealing to their most primal motivations. Together, as Mr. Friedman so eloquently and tragically points out, they have the power to ruin the Republic. What's to be done, though, Mr. Friedman? Is all hope lost?
2
well written article. Accurate in every way.
This is why Steve Bullock, Montana’s governor, who understands that democracy dies in darkness with dark money, needs national recognition.
2
The internet is not a voting booth with one vote per person. Mr. Zukerman — by allowing Russian government bots to take control of this “open” platform simply with massive computing — is an active accomplice.
He cannot hide behind “free speech”. His acquiescence is despicable.
FTC: THIS IS FOREIGN GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE DIRECTED AGAINST THE US GOVENMENT.
1
I would add Rupert Murdock by name to the list of miscreants.
6
Where has Thomas Friedman been the last almost 250 years? Political lying is as American as apple pie. But the Republic has survived all those years of lies -- until 2019 or is it 2016? What a bizarre coincidence that only today has lying become toxic to our democracy!
Friedman is concerned about "political ads that contain obvious lies." But obvious lies are the least of our problems -- because they are obvious.
Friedman would give Mark Zuckerberg's FaceBook the power to fact-check political speech and to censor what is untrue. But doesn't Friedman understand that whoever acquires (or is granted) the power to decide what is truth and what is falsehood -- and to suppress what it determines is falsehood -- will control the news and so will ultimately control you and me.
It is naive to think that tech companies are benevolent despots who will never abuse this power. Zuckerberg seems to understand this danger, and so should we. We can't outsource the responsibility for determining what is truth to someone else -- because that means surrendering our liberties to them. That is a duty every citizen has to do for him or herself.
3
Facebook does not have to be the world’s fact checker to handle their problem. They can provide additional transparency in political ads on their platform. Use standard templates for these ads, allowing users see what entity purchased them, what they spent, who they are targeting, and what other ads they are running. Transparency does not require an army of people defining what is a fact or not. It requires that users be given the chance to make better choices themselves. People will do that, if the tools are available, explainable and easy to use. This is actually easy to do, at scale. Unfortunately Facebook doesn’t answer to its users, it has other masters, and it will continue to insist with intellectual dishonesty that nothing can/should be done.
@Ian Maitland
Citizens United was decided in 2010. That allows unlimited dark money in campaigns. Combined with the increasing power and influence of a tiny class of fabulously wealthy plutocrats, the oversize influence of Fox News, and the proliferation of social media influencing a gullible public that has never been taught to sift truth from fiction, that Supreme Court decisions was always going to mean the erosion and perhaps death of our democracy. We have literally gotten to the point where one person can decide who will be the president of the United States. Witness the outsize influence of Sheldon Adelson in promoting Trump in the 2016 election.
Frankly, I don't see a solution within the framework of the existing Constitution.
1
@Joe
That is not what Facebook's critics are demanding.
Facebook shall be suspended during a 6 monts period before a presidential election; they would work harder to avoid to be a propaganda tool...
Why we must support Senator Sanders. For more than 40 years, Sanders has held the same positions on so much. He is a member of the same school as FDR and JFK. Our nation faces existential threats in the erosion of democracy, supplanted, defenestrated by oligarchs, and the threat of climate change. Senator Sanders is equipped to take both of these on. He’s polling ahead of the field in New Hampshire and is the only candidate that beats Trump in Iowa. Let’s make FDR’s 2nd Bill of Rights reality by voting responsibly for our fellow Americans and our country.
1
Sounds like the perfect storm for the downfall of democracy in the US. Trump leading a populist movement created by in the right wing media echo chamber and piggybacking on decades of anger in the South about losing the Civil War and being forced to give up racial segregation. Zuckerberg and gang of social media owners with their platforms to connect people spreading political misinformation around the country. Putin leading digital campaigns to upend democracy in the US and Western Europe. And finally the Republican Party opting to cling to Trump rather then defending the country against him. Most people thought it couldn't happen here but it is. If elections become completely rigged as they now are in Russia then it is game over.
1
<< Just once I’d like to see Zuckerberg look into a camera and say: “I will take Facebook stock down to $1 if that is what it takes to ensure that we’re never again an engine for the perversion of democracy in any country, starting with my own. Facebook is not going to accept any more political ads until we have the resources to fact-check them all.” >>
These words evoked ASMR tingles in my spine. That is, if ASMR can be wistful.
People like Trump and Zuckerberg are definitely part of the issue, but let's be real, playing fair in America doesn't tend to lead to success. Trump and Zuckerberg are just playing to win. They aren't the root of the problem, the game is.
6
It's been pretty obvious that Zuckerberg only cares about protecting his company for a while now. Having the majority of political power given to a few corporations and wealthy will continue to hurt our country.
1
As a student, it's really difficult to fathom that the government that is supposed to protect me only seems to care about their own benefits. I have yet to face real-world problems, but this article makes me fear the true intentions of the government and what values Zuckerberg believes in—causing me to fear adulthood.
3
Excellent column! Please share..
1
Do conservatives ever comment here? You guys keep patting yourselves on the back!
1
Why is someone like Friedman still using the slur "banana republic"? It's really beneath him.
I agree completely with the article, but I'm interested to know what the author thinks about what structures made this abuse of power possible. Many of the systems we take for granted were designed with the very worst humans could do in mind. If America is under threat of breakage, shouldn't our next move be to change America? One of the central tenets of out country's philosophy is to constantly challenge authority. We cannot expect everyone to obey the laws without an incentive. I think the only thing to do is wait, and see if the government we have can adequately enforce its own rules.
If not, America will be forced to either crack under the pressure of the abuse and misuse of its short-term gains, or reckon seriously with the ideals that form the nation. Truthfully, I think the ideas we often espouse in this country put more emphasis on personal ambition and looking out for the people you like, rather than allowing others to disagree with you and considering yourself and your actions within the structure of power.
If this apocalyptic article to be proved wrong, America must change what we consider to be patriotism, culpability, and understanding. I believe, as others have said, that abuses of power like Trump's or Zuckerberg's are symptomatic of other, deeper, problems with how this nation sees itself and the values that it reveres.
2
America is cracking and the need for change is growing because of it. America is going to go all the way down this time before it gets better. But it will happen fast and who knows what the new form will be? Since I can’t stop this train from crashing I am curious to see what is going to rise out of the ashes. Like a horror movie I dread what kind of savior this new world can produce.
With this administration, I have come to the cynical conclusion that some folks don't mind creating a living Hell because they think They will have air-conditioning.
7
So is the price for keeping in touch with family members, kids you grew up with and with fellow alum...is the price our democracy?
2
You can blame Trump, Zuckerberg, unprincipled Republicans all you want but they are all products of unfettered American Capitalism where winning, power and profit is all that matters.
Hence what is ultimately happening right now is that the unfettered American Capitalism is stress-testing American Democracy.
Let's see who wins.
5
More and more people no longer find it so strange that our household 100% boycotts Facebook.
Too much risk and damage associated with that brand.
5
I have never used it. Glad to see there are some others who think the same.
3
You have every right to fear for the nation Mr. Friedman.
Trump and technological corporate magnates like Zuckerberg and his fellows have only increased the speed of entropy.
We must all acknowledge that Pax Americana was but a blip in history.
You know, I think the “ok boomer” movement reported to the NYT yesterday is right on. I’m a boomer, and man did we blow it! We brought the world Trump, a being who reflects our unmitigated selfishness and disregard for the negative impacts this selfishness continues to wreak on the earth’s environment, humanity as a whole, and our fellow species who inhabit the earth.
Geez, this is depressing!
3
Who are you calling “we” friend? I am a BB and I have voted against and worked against this insanity all of my life. I may have failed but not for lack of trying. Maybe some of these other generations that did not listen should take some responsibility for this catastrophe?
Exactly my feelings, Tom. As a survivor of Holocaust and years under communism I am seeing us sliding into lower depths very soon. If nothing is going to be done about it, and very soon.
1
Winston Churchill, our greatest leader during WWII said, "Americans keep trying until they get it right." IMHO the donald will not be convicted by the senate because they will require yes votes from 20 republican senators and that is not happening. But when he looses the next election, he is open to lawsuits from all corners and he will get fried.
Nice to see you're coming around to the urgency here.
1
Hunter S. Thompson famously wrote that when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. But we've gone beyond that - now the going is scary and the criminals and grifters have turned pro.
347
@lb
Where is Hunter now that we really really need him? The acerbic insults he hurled at Nixon in the Seventies are more than apt in this weirder than Alice in Wonderland dystopian rabbit hole we inhabit with (lies are truth, fiction is fact) Donald. Then again, he couldn't make it past Bush. Maybe he saw Donald coming.
12
The state of America reminds me of parents not wanting to vaccinate their children and the recent measles outbreak. America, like vaccines, has become a victim of its own success. Americans have lived in a stable, prosperous, decently run country for as long as living memory. Add to this, a basic American un-wordliness, the siloed right-wing media echo chamber and a black man as POTUS for eight years and we have Donald Trump and his administration with a 88% approval rating amongst Republicans. The GOP and its constituents are ONLY concerned about maintaining the current status quo of white men receiving the lion's share of opportunity, wealthy and power in this country. Every concerned American needs to vote. If DT is our POTUS for four more years, I don't believe the country will survive.
4
Thankyou for this column Tom. But Republicans have been treating their political opposition as the enemy for my entire adult life. Not much we can do about them, they sold themselves 20 - 30 years ago and their constituents refuse to hold them accountable.
Facebook is different. Their motives as you noted, are profit and market power. The answer is simple. Drop your subscription. I have and it feels great!
3
Thank you Mr. Friedman. Someone needs to call them all out. The ludicrous spreading of conspiracy theories, including from my own congressman, Scott Perry, on NPR today, has got to stop. We need everyone to start taking this seriously instead of using it as political theater. Our democracy is at stake.
2
"I will take Facebook stock down to $1 if that is what it takes "
Sorry, that ain't how it works. The law of the business world jungle and also the actual law of the courts as determined by numerous rulings says companies/CEOs have to maximize profits for shareholders, otherwise they can be sued.
That's the American system. Money talks, principles walk. Not defending it, just saying how it is.
1
Have these people forgotten that broken countries lead to revolution? Have they not read history? Are they so wealthy they think they have nothing to fear?
Marie Antoinette was not afraid until heads started rolling.
But, Revolution, and civil wars, are horrific and expensive in money and blood (see Ken Burns Civil War). I guess personal greed trumps love of country and safe stability.
2
@Lily According to Fox News, its Democrats who are breaking the country. It is my observation, having many friends and family members who are Republicans, that they are having a good time "sticking it to the libs". They are also uninformed, unworldly and bored. They view Trump as a reality TV show contestant where he is the brawling, belligerent "Big Brother" who is "sticking it to the libs and immigrants". They don't know, or care, enough about domestic or foreign policy to be concerned about DT's policy decisions or flouting of our laws. As long as the economy remains strong, they will support him because they don't see any cost or downside for doing so.
1
The only thing we can truly count on is the old historical truth that when things get bad enough there will be a revolution. We are only 150 years from our last domestic revolution (civil war) and somehow we think that it can never happen again. We are only 50 years from the days when cities burned and national guard troops were sent all over this country. It can happen here because it has often happened here before. We seem to be unconscious of what our actions cause and unconscious of the danger that they create. We always wake up too late. Is that the way it is going to be again? Is there no way for us to learn?
Mr. Friedman's piece reminds me of the song from the Broadway show Avenue Q:
There's a fine, fine line
Between a lover, and a friend.
There's a fine, fine line
Between reality, and pretend;
And you never know 'til you reach the top
If it was worth the uphill climb.
(The rest of it is worth a Google...)
1
It just seems to be about money. The financial crisis of 2008 started the pumping of money into the faltering economy; and where does this money now go?
Does it go to poor people or to people who are already rich?
2
I attended a Warren grassroots meeting last night here in the Central Coast of CA.
Very diverse group of supporters. Older attendees, baby boomers and older, shared the same sentiments--two broke down and cried.
The organizers kept it positive. No Trump bashing, just focused on winning through grassroots effort--one American at a time committed to change and the Country.
It's time to get a President for Main Street, not Wall Street.
It's time to get a President for the people, not corporations.
It's time to get a President for the everywoman/everyman, and not a select group of tax-dodging men.
It's time to take America back.
Warren all the way!
4
Warren is a Republican lately turned to populist causes who will turn back to her corporate roots whenever crisis hits.
Bernie is the only dyed in the wool progressive out there and he has an army waiting to follow him and beat Trump. Please wake up before it is too late.
@Bobotheclown. Please. Liz and Bernie are good friends and soulmates. We love them both. Because Liz grew up in a conservative household, she knows it personally, that is a big positive cuz she can relate to people of all stripes.
The most fundamental problem we have is the form of democracy our constitution had set up. The direct popular election of our leaders (the bogus electoral college is no help) is just not a very efficient way of setting a path for society. It relies on the collective wisdom of the masses, whose interests are usually short-sighted and emotional, rather than far-looking and logical. Our leaders and policymakers are elected on the basis of charisma, charm, and money-raising ability, instead of wisdom, competence, and interest in the common good.
Sometimes, with this system, we can get good leaders, who are both charismatic and wise, but at other times (like currently with Trump) we can end up with someone possessing charisma but also underlying malevolence and total self-interest - with disastrous consequences, if the conditions are just right.
The constitution needs a major rewrite, which is not likely to happen for a long time. It may happen perhaps only after the complete failure of the society that the original constitution produced, and which we may be witnessing the beginnings of now.
1
So, gn3000, just what do you propose in this rewrite? Who will elect our leaders? Or will they be appointed by some omniscient being? And how do we find said being? You have obviously not learned much from history about what this sort of plan leads to. The process is flawed because we are flawed and any new process/constitution will be flawed because it sill be written by imperfect and flawed beings. Our goal must be to make the system we have work well.
Arguably the most important op-ed since Trump took office. Mr. Friedman mentions gerrymandering and unlimited campaign contributions as incentives “to ensure that these people will keep on hammering our system until they smash it to pieces.” But a big one he failed to note is the stacking of the Supreme Court with men whose biases are obvious and virtually guaranteed to further “divide us and subdivide us.” I definitely fear for the survival of my country.
892
@Huge Grizzly -- I don't know how old you are, but were you around during the days of the Warren Court? Conservatives were wringing their hands and predicting the end of democracy. The institution of Miranda rulings, the end of school prayer, and segregated schools were all highly controversial rulings. The Warren Court affirmed a constitutionally protected right of privacy, which laid the groundwork for Roe v Wade. And, the ruling Donald Trump would most want to overrule: New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, in which the Court ruled that the First Amendment restricts the ability of public officials to sue for defamation. Conservatives feared for the survival of the country when each of these decisions was announced. The country survived. My point is that politics and the Court are cyclical. From Warren to Roberts and from Eisenhower to Trump the country has switched from liberal to conservative. Whichever side is not in control suffers and predicts dire outcomes that never happen. The Trump years are no different. This too shall pass, and the Republic will stand.
7
@Ms. Pea
I was eight when the Warren Court began and twenty four when it ended. I was, in my youthful hubris, much more Libertarian than Progressive. I have changed probably more than the majority of the country as my realization of my duty to my less fortunate fellow citizens increases.
Conservative politicians were wringing their hands in those years, but I don't remember public sentiment as following along. I remember those years as a time of increasing appreciation of the need for a regard for civil liberties, equity of opportunity, and civil rights.
Now, I am wringing my hands over the polarization and politization of the court. Disagreeing with individual judicial decisions is very different from the widespread belief that the court has been stacked with jurists that are acting out a political agenda; crushing the rights of the individual and magnifying the power of corporations and the rich.
28
@Huge Grizzly - Thank you. Not a surprise that Mr Friedman fails to notice or mention the STACKED Supreme Court as he is a somewhat recent ‘born again’ supporter of Democracy & Truth.
3
Just stop using Facebook. How difficult is that?
Years ago, when I found out that anything you post on Facebook becomes theirs to use in whatever way they want, including advertising, I said, “I’m outta here.”
Of course, you can’t delete your account. But I removed every single shred of evidence that I had ever been there and replaced my avatar with a meme. Believe me, it’s a powerful feeling not to be tied to such a behemoth.
3
@ReadingLips You can permanently delete your account, and I've included a link to how to do it below. It actually takes 30 days; they're hoping you regret your decision within 30 days and log in again, and that of course re-activates your account immediately. It feels like a Hotel-Casino comping you for another night's stay, so you keep losing your money for an extra day. But, if you don't peak at your account for the full 30 days, your FB account will disappear entirely.
https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674
I deleted my Facebook in late 2015, and I'm a lot happier for it - but it's a personal decision, and I don't blame anyone for staying on the platform -as it's so ubiquitous. But, if more people make the choice to delete (and wait that 30 days!), they may find that there are alternative ways to keep in touch with everyone digitally.
2
@Stephen
Thank you! I was operating under outdated info and I didn't realize FB had made it possible to delete an account. If it works this easy, I'm going to pass this around to friends.
Thank you again.
1
America's autodestruction in full swing.
My main worry is it's taking many other countries down with it, including mine.
1
Because of these new technologies we must modify our ideas about free speech.
For example, free speech does not include yelling "fire" in a crowed theater if there is no fire.
Freedom does not mean a wild "free for all".
Trump shouts “fire” everyday and the crowd is still sitting there wondering what to do. Now he is playing with matches. What exactly must it take before someone does something to protect us and put out the fire?
This is all non sense, when have political ads ever been fair and balanced and factual.
Zuckerberg failed to comprehend the thrust of AOC's question. He's a deer caught in the headlights, but that clueless mind wields enormous power over our society. The Libertarian Fantasy is that you don't need to worry about the consequences of lying because in the long run everything will sort out. Clueless Libertarians keep switching between this fantasy narrative and outright nihilism. Thomas Friedman is right. America is on the verge of destroying its position as the last best hope for our world. Libertarians like Zuckerberg don't really care about civil society, the survival of the planet or constitutional Democracy. All they really care about is a self serving fantasy that liberty means you can avoid responsibility for the externalities created by your actions. The USSR gave up the fantasy of world communism in 1989, but here in the USA Libertarians are dragging Democracy into a death spiral that will leave us culturally depleted and as lacking in moral fiber as Vladimir Putin.
3
Wow...never before have you written such a scathing commentary that I have agreed with so wholeheartedly. Sad to say, your analysis is spot on. I hope we survive this. We won’t without more brave citizens speaking up like those now testifying before Congress, and without the rest of us making our concerns be made known in actionable ways.
2
There are numerous protests occurring throughout the world about corrupt governments.
Why the quiet here?
3
I did not know about the Republican congresspeople participating in the impeachment investigation. I suppose they are "hiding," since their constituents might be revved up by social media to vote them out--nevertheless, I'd expect the Times and other mainstream media to uncover them. I'd frankly expect a real, true picture of what's going on. But the media is nowhere near what it was in the past when it actually tried to bring to light all of the facts. It's so sad to see the Times repeating 2016.
Is it possible to have good journalism now? I suppose with the retirement of the boomers (please stop showcasing articles reviling us) the answer is no. This is not personal--I think millennials, Gen Z, and even Gen X came of age without investigative reporting. Now we have just social media gossip.
". . . his priorities are profits and power, and he seems quite ready to hurt American democracy to get them." Of course. As we have been repeatedly reminded, capitalism is more important than democracy. Never more true than today. And capitalism and fascism have a long history together. Well, next year will be the year. We either change this or we die from it.
It all comes down to the political awareness and ability of voters to discern fact from fiction and to think critically. Unfortunately millions of Americans are simply unable to do so because they have never been informed and schooled enough to distinguish between the two. The loud and incessant cry of "fake news" shouted ad nauseam by their convincing leader has become firmly embedded in their belief systems. It is catchy and easy to grasp and becomes unrecognizable as the propaganda it is when fed to them daily over and over. In a perverse way, the relentless attacks on the "fake news" have become their mantra for what they regard as truth because Trump and Fox news declare it to be so.
1
An excellent column Mr. Friedman. Zuckerberg is a menace to society. I agree with Elizabeth Warren that the power of these social media platforms must be addressed. Maybe an experiment is in order. Maybe someone should place an ad on Facebook telling the world that Zuckerberg is in fact, say, a Russian spy, planted and groomed in college, and that they back him. Zuckerberg's real goal ala George Soros is to take over the world and he will eventually become the all powerful ruler over all mass produced information. How long do you think these advertisements would last on his platform? I mean, according to him no lie is too big as long as it makes money. That is the bottom line here. As to the GOP lawmakers mentioned, they have forfeited any right to criticize a future Democratic President for well, just about anything. Grisham is clearly a fool - not wasting any time on her. In fact I often wonder if she is just parroting what Trump dictates to her.
1
I'm reading this article on my computer. I believe that the libel laws require that Mr. Friedman essentially writes things that are true. Earlier I read various things on Facebook and Twitter. It seems to me that if the Times is required to have its writers tell the truth why wouldn't the same laws require every publisher to tell the truth? I think that certainly Facebook and Twitter are publishers because they are conveying information to me.
2
It’s sad to watch two nations, who I loved dearly, the US and Lebanon are facing threats to their existence. Tom Friedman knows this well. Politicians, religious leaders in various sects, greedy bankers and businessmen put their interest first before the nation. Here in the US we are no different. Groups some numbered in millions trust faith more then the nation, same with businessmen, politicians and religious leaders. Maybe the Lebanese are out on the streets today to save the nation. Wake up America learn from this small nation, before its too late.
1
Zuckerberg is hedging his bets, paying shallow lip service to democratic freedoms, but paying actual service to the propaganda machine of this anti-democratic party and regime.
After a certain threshold, well below a billion dollars, wealth in excess of what one can use or spend becomes power. Zuckerberg is already there; he's not going to give it up willingly. In his hubris and his greed, I'm sure that he feels completely worthy.
1
The outrage should not be only the political corruption but the full rein given to big business to kill the environment, undermine / eliminate laws that protect citizens on a daily basis, empower the rich over all else
1
Political ads that elect Presidents, have a long history of false information. I just have to say... 1988... Willie Horton.
Mr Friedman, when you say "This is all about money for Zuckerberg" you present it a fact. How do you know your statement is true? Do you have evidence to support this? Are you not drifting into the same morass you accuse others of?
"Graham — and all the rest of them — will live in infamy."
Only if they don't win. Because winners write the history.
2
I agree with everything in this piece, but add one small yet important point.
As we've all seen Trump and Republicans have nothing but lies. If FB fact checks all their ads, they will all be taken down. Then Fox News gets on board with the candidates saying there is an obvious left wing bias at FB.
When an entire party relies on dishonesty and has a powerful propaganda arm, it puts everyone who wants to be honest and live up to American ideals in a tough spot.
Not impossible, but it is more evidence that beyond mandated Medicare and whatever the left's latest fantasy is, we need someone who will commit to rebuilding and reforming our democracy.
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for your eloquence. I have no words, or too many words! I cry for our country! That these Republicans cannot see past their wallets, is nauseating. All we can do is VOTE THEM GONE!
1
For those of us who were so derided and ridiculed during the 2016 election when we talked about an existential threat if this charlatan was put in a position of power (his background was a litany of incompetence, graft, self-dealing, and failure) - this is what we meant.
Hillary may not have been your choice (and of course she was the sole source of all that is bad, mean, nasty that has ever happened throughout history and around the globe), but she would not have threatened our institutions and democracy (she had a well-documented background as well, if anyone bothered to read it) - and she could have been voted out in four years. And the irony is is that she’s a centrist and pro-business.
Everything happening now was in plain sight in 2016.
4
Having read your wonderful, amazing "From Beirut to Jerusalem," and having listened to your wise and restrained opinion columns over the years, upon reading today's piece I feel totally depressed. I saw you on CNN last night and I've never seen you so angry. Dark days indeed.
1
Just like the environment. It's still there so how can it be broken? How short-sighted can people be? I know: let's play "let's find out." With the country, the planet, the people... we're making money. Who cares?
Oops, we messed up. And it's forever. Couldn't be our fault.
In 1967 the French literary critic Roland Barthes wrote an essay entitled "The death of author". He argued that critics should "ignore" the authors intentions in interpreting a text. Writing and authorship are unrelated. From "humble" beginnings like this, we have been led down the path to a post-truth society. It is not difficult to extrapolate from "the death of the author" to "the author is lying" and much news is "fake". And if you can't trust the news how is a humble soul like Zuckerberg and his staff possibly going to decide what is news and what isn't news. After all competing companies claim their products are the best. You decide . You decide what to buy, what to believe, what health insurance you should have, how much should heat up the planet, how much the deep state controls your life, whether you should be homeless or not...Just be careful you don't suffocate on your "freedom" because if you do you won't have anyone to blame.
What about all the lies in regular ads? Why should those get a pass if we are going to regulate lies in political ads? What about media lies? We are a society awash in lies!
1
The headline is wrong. it really is:
"Trump, Zuckerberg & Pals Have Broken America"
They had help from the Russians, the Chinese, so called "Corporate Citizens", PACs, Wall Street,bankers, CEOs, GOP, Lobbyists, and anyone who has lost of money to get political favors.
3
Every person who continues to use Facebook, in any capacity, is complicit in Zuckerberg's sham. The best response to Facebook is to not use it.
4
I don't want the destroyers of American Democracy to live in infamy, I want them to live in jail. When is that going to start happening? Laws are being broken every day. I hesitate to write this, but "let's start locking them up."
4
Trump, Zuckerberg & pals are not breaking America.
They have broken America. Past tense.
They are the most recent iterations of a system, pushed by right-wing and Republican ideologues, to accumulate wealth and power at the very top.
*That* system is doing pretty well. They have a plurality of Americans who think that their own rights are subordinate to those of big companies in the ways that matter. No matter how much they may otherwise distrust corporations, they mistrust government more.
The system is already broken. America is broken, bruised, conflicted and hurt. How we work to rebuild, how we fight to fix it, that is what we need to focus on for the next twelve months and change.
I appreciate that the author has a good grasp of the issues, but I think he might want to tour several more cities and towns around the US to get a better sense of how broken our country has become.
3
Thank you for your succinct summary. It is a pivotal moment and feels like a break point. As the ruse wares thin tremors sway through the strata on which he plays his game. Surely Graham et. al. know their ice is getting mighty thin. Yet they stagger forward. Do they not understand that their comfortable life of affluency and order (and on which we all depend) is temporal and fragile? Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman has offered us his patriot duty. Can we but hope that Senate Republicans will recognize the impending calamity, devise a face saving rationale, and finally step forward? Well we can hope.
And would Mark mind being falsely slandered on his contraption? Just wondering.
2
Most of the problems raised here do not have a simple solution.
But one does: Facebook.
Just quit. To make the world a better place.
6
“ that make our government the envy of the world” Hilarious, Thomas, hilarious. That ship sailed a LONG time ago. I needed a laugh.
1
We could change things overnight- reverse the laws that allow internet sites to claim that viewing their site is a “contract,” where you have no rights, and they can change the terms daily, force you to arbitrate. And make publishers of all political ads register, disallowing any foreign money or control. That’s how to make America great again!
3
AS one commentator on MSNBC said: "Is social media the worst thing to happen to society in the 2ist Century or the worst thing to happen in the history of the world?" ((regarding its effect on democracy and society).
Follow the money with Facebook. Investors with ties to the Kremlin, using Kremlin money to put MZ &Co in business. It is common knowledge in Silicon Valley.
2
Does anybody really believe political ads, Fox News, or anonymous posts? Did anybody believe the stuff that was published about FDR in the '30's? If they subject FB to fact checking on ads, maybe they can also subject columns in NYT etc. to the same examination. How would that go down?
Man back-stabbed his college cohorts that were collaboratively working on a social media platform. Thank you Tom Friedman.
2
Sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Look at the photo accompanying this piece. I could imagine it as an illustration in the dictionary for the word "sociopath." Like Trump, Zuckerberg is completely amoral, a vacuous being without knowledge of right or wrong, completely devoid of empathy and fixated on greed and that reflection in the mirror. He is dangerous.
5
When did FB become the press? I thought that they were a social networking service. According its Wikipedia page MZ began FB so that the male students at Harvard could compare pictures of female students and decide who was more attractive. It looks like MZ is still an immature jerk who doesn’t care how he makes his money.
Why is MZ allowed to hide behind the first amendment? Did the Founders believe that freedom of expression and freedom of the press meant that an entity like FB should be allowed to promote lies and misinformation? I am not an expert but I would think that the Founders would be appalled that MZ and his high tech cohorts are profiteering from the selling of “alternative facts” that serve to undermine the nation that they worked and sacrificed to establish.
Excellent column, btw!
3
It is time to BREAK UP FACEBOOK. Compleltely break it up into 50 separate online sites, separately owned. 50 STATES.
3
Would it be possible to shut down Face book for allowing irresponsible slander, and lies about individuals, groups, countries and etc. by filing laws suites.
It sound like from Zuckerberg vague and coached to sound stupid (we all know he is extremely smart) answers to the questions, simple enough questions for a 10 year old to answer,
that he knew that lies were being published of Facebook but did nothing. When a newspaper publishes lies there is a consequence, same is true of tv news (exception of FOX NEWs.
My question: can this be stopped in court?
1
Mr. Friedman begins his piece saying "If America's worst enemies ..."
So what does that tell us about ourselves?
In the immortal words of Pogo, "we have seen the enemy and he is us?"
We have done this to ourselves. As lazy and wilfully ignorant voters, and users of social media, we are responsible for the mess we are in. We are not a nation of helpless passive victims. We have a choice in what we watch, whom we vote for, what we read and post on social media.
It follows, to paraphrase Candidate Trump, that only we can fix it.
How does Zuckerberg sleep? Does he convince himself that his charitable giving somehow makes up for the breathtaking damage he does?
Not even close!
What a mess he has made.
Beak that company up or shut it down.
3
A bit like the pot calling the kettle black. Yes, Facebook cares only about profits but what about the NYT? Journalism has taken a back seat to "resistance" in order to drive up online subscriptions and profits. The dividing line between the editorial page and the news has blurred to the point where you can no longer tell the difference where one starts and the other ends. There are many who would argue that the MSM is "breaking America".
1
My take on these Republican Defenders of Trump is that they aren't all that intelligent. Clever yes, smart no.
2
We are witness to the plunder
Our country torn asunder
Dismantled by the madness of a clown
Now we face our darkest hour
The vandals have the power
And everything we’ve built
They’re tearing down.
2
The common theme I see in the criticism of FaceBook is contempt for the masses- those "low information" voters who supposedly voted for Trump because they were duped by deceptive ads on FaceBook. Why don't you just come out and admit you hate democracy because it allows stupid people to vote? Our Founding Fathers certainly felt that way. Less than 5% of Americans held the franchise when our nation was founded. Alexander Hamilton, currently starring on Broadway, said, "The people are turbulent and changing; they seldom judge or determine right. Give, therefore, to the first class a distinct, permanent share of the government. They will check the unsteadiness of the second." I don't want to go down that road, but apparently lots of people who read this newspaper do.
Thank you mr. Friedman for exposing so clearly the weakness of American democracy .
In my old age I couldn’t ever have imagined that the integrity of this country would be taken hostage by a bunch of unpatriotic Republican senators and a group of greedy young entrepreneurs .
One has to use her/ his conscience and wisdom to extrapolate the truth from this fake news world .
3
Utter rubbish. Wait until the FISA report is issued and we'll see who did more to destroy the country than Trump could even imagine. We have more respect internationally (believe it or not) from the leaders of other countries if not the biased medias. We have the best economy in history, the best employment numbers, the highest wealth, the least amount of war in decades and "we fear for our country"? Fear not, Trump will be president for another four years and all will be well (as I await the onslaught of the lemmings).
It is time for all worthy News Organizations to come up with a ‘Gold Standard’ of fact checked journalism much like we have organic food labels! Once you establish trust with a Gold Standard label people will understand journalism they can trust to hype false tabloids like Fox News and the National Enquirer.
2
It is shameful and disgusting, this is true.
But I doubt we'd be at this point and in this place if not for globalization, and its many naive intellectual cheerleaders, and I count you as one of those Mr. Friedman, after reading your columns for many years. It was the spark - of resentment, of migration, of climate, of collapse, of corporate unaccountably, of political paralysis, of gross systemic inequality that chokes our politics and government. Would that it was an idea that somehow died in the crib, decades ago, the US would be in a better place, and better able to handle the challenges of this century. Alas, we are hoisted by our own metaphorical petard, undone by our mad greed.
1
Zuckerberg is, as the Victorians would have put it, either a knave or a fool: he either just does not understand the simple question AOC asked or he understands it all too well and would rather just fudge. All taken together, I think he is both knave and fool.
As for Lindsey Graham, the hypocrisy on a daily basis goes beyond my powers to explain. Like Trump, the vileness and venality are such as to make Mr. Friedman's concerns all-too-real.
We may only hope--at least a little--that when the Taylors, and Hills, and Yovanovitches, and Hindmans testify enough of the public will respond.
2
Trump & pals certainly are destroying our country. But, the public users of social media, themselves, without aid from others are responsible for the destruction resulting from social media's business model.
TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY.
1
It really started with the Reagan Revolution. Greed was good, prosperity was your divine right (an actual bumper sticker in the 1980's) and people began sympathizing with the ultra-wealthy. The poor were nothing but parasites ("welfare queens,") and the pursuit of wealth became an obsession. It has continued on through to the present, to the point where the average citizen merely shrugs at the suggestion that we are becoming a corrupt oligarchy. The high-jacking of our country is nearly complete, and if anyone is to blame, it is us.
1
@Susan Naa... I blame Robin Leach. Life Styles of the Rich and Famous. "Champagne wishes and caviar dreams."
Our justice system has been rendered useless. Just another agency of the government sold out by the Republicans and run by the most corrupt, partisan AG ever. They are destroying America and this is no joke. Glad Friedman recognizes this.
1
Fox News is the most toxic source of alternate reality during this impeachment. Fox News is enmeshed with the psychotic state of mind of Trump, his paranoia, conspiracies, and knee jerk reactions to protect his ego. Fox News fans will have the most trauma to deal with as Trump is impeached. In the meantime they are feeding the frenzy of an unfit mind in the oval office. Those not invested in this insanity must indeed be prepared for more irrational grand standing and dangerous diversions. The 25th Amendment may very need to come into play for the safety of the nation and the world.
1
Facebook as I've told everyone for years us bad and only has profits as its main interest. Any lofty humanitarian goals are pure farce. It's money & nothing more. Just another example of the greed that is rotting the country.
1
How many of you readers writing to complain about MZ and Facebook still use your social media accounts? You sound like someone complaining about gun violence on your way to buy another gun. For goodness sake delete your Facebook account and make the only statement that will change their behavior.
1
I have one objection to the idea that social media barons are to blame as well. It’s not social media itself, but the lack of basic intelligence by the average American voter. They know nothing. They read nothing. They simply look for things that reinforce their preconceived notions: the echo chamber.
And they have a choice: get off social media.
1
Look at Zuckerberg's face. The diabolical smile. This is Rosemary's baby. All grown up.
1
There is one paradoxical falsehood that should be obvious to anyone ( except apparently Trump and his minions): on the one hand Trump frets that Ukraine is hopelessly corrupt, and therefore he is reluctant to provide hundreds of $millions in aid; but he trusts this corrupt nation to conduct an “honest” investigation into Biden etc.
The reality is that Trump and his consigliere Rudy are mining the depths of Ukrainian corruption to exploit those willing to fabricate the “evidence” they want. Ukraine is too corrupt to protect it’s people and sovereignty; but corrupt enough to advance the schemes of Trump and Rudy’s clients.
When the hearings go public, Rudy needs to be subpoenaed and called to testify. If he resists he should be seized by the Congressional Sargent at Arms and frog marched in in chains wearing an orange jumpsuit and questioned on the full extent of his Ukraine ventures on behalf of Trump and his other goon clients.
1
If it is Facebook policy to allow politicians to post any untruth then perhaps some politicians should start posting lies about Mark Zuckerberg and lets see how long that policy lasts.
1
Tom. He just doesn't care. Based on his behavior, Facebook's profits are the ONLY thing he cares about.
Wake up Americans! We are giving our identity as a country away.
1
Before you read Thomas Friedman's column in the NYTimes, here's a crazy ask. Listen to Jake Shimabukuro's version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, from one of the world's great ukulele performers. There's an anger in this version that doesn't sound at all like weeping. I've didn't understand the emotions articulated by that music until they were amplified by this Friedman column.
"Not in the Cold War, not during Vietnam, not during Watergate did I ever fear more for my country."
Friedman writes about bright shiny things or deeply conspiratorial situations ala Limbaugh, Hannity, and Faux News.
As a progressive, I find him hard to read.
Why do I always imagine Mark Zuckerberg emerges each morning from a field of corn?
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Lying is part of , maybe most of , politics. Remember Harry Reid and Romney’s taxes? When pressed on it after the election he replied “ we won,!”. And Tom , it maybe that you are getting old and everything was better back then.
There has to some other billionaire who actually loves America, and can finance a start-up to compete and takedown Facebook for good.
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Political ads are biased and full of lies in all media: printed press, radio, tv, billboards, etc and now also the Internet. Everyone knows they are all “fake news”. That is why the electorate is confused, apathetic, and sceptical.
Graham - and all the rest of them - act like mobsters, akin to threatening a shop owner with breaking his knee caps for their boss' enrichment if he doesn't pay them their monthly 'protection' dues.
Let more brave Ukrainians die while they are protecting themselves from Russia annexing all of Ukraine and Make Russia Great Again should they not follow this presidents demands.
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This current Republican scandal is a continuation of a decades old trend. First we had Watergate and the coverup. We then had Reagan, Bush and Iran Contra plus all the other scandals during the Reagan years (robbing HUD comes to mind). George W lied to America to justify the Iraq invasion. When Joe Wilson exposed one of Bush’s lies his CIA wife was outed. During the Obama years McConnell violated the constitution by not moving on the president’s Supreme Court pick. And now we have Trump who, although a career criminal, is defended by Republicans in the face of a growing portfolio of crimes against America and mankind. We will continue to have lawlessness and violations as long as their are no penalties when folks are caught. Those underlings who do serve time get rewarded later. G Gordon Liddy got a talk show. Ollie North got a TV show on Fox and then became Chair of the NRA. Dinesh D’Souza is lionized on conservative talk shows. The right is full of rot.
I hear some say that impeachment is a slippery slope. It will create a trend that will hinder future presidents. It may also serve as a deterrent for future presidents. One way to reduce the fear of impeachment is to be clean. I would like them to try that.
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So is it OK for Senator Warren to lie and not for others? Lie is a lie, even when the lier belongs to your party. I also find character attacks like "who is she/he ..." to be unethical. Finally, what is claimed here is that technology is bad when it is not helping your political agenda. I disagree with that.
Of course the damage they do doesn't matter to them. They are the "everybody" who were "saved" in 2009, and apparently you, to, Tom Friedman.
Most of us weren't.
"Graham — and all the rest of them — will live in infamy."
Not if they can control the narrative. If it doesn't fit the narrative, well, down the memory hole with it.
Are Trump, Zuckerberg & Pals the problem, or just a symptom? If they were the problem, I’d feel a lot better because a few bad apples would be easier to deal with. But I think the problem is deeper and more insidious – it’s systemic.
William Carlos Williams wrote: “The pure products of America go crazy.” Trump and Zuckerberg are pure products of America. They are winners in our great meritocracy - the crown on our core American values. We reward it and don’t ask questions. Results are everything.
The American Dream is a blank check and we give it to anyone. The Dream runs on “freedom” for individuals, rather than on the result for society.
We’re suckers for every myth and con that comes down the pike (Religion! The Free Market! Facebook!) because when you run on a dream, you don’t have to deal with reality or the messy details. And myths are easy to game.
America has an anarchistic-libertarian streak in its DNA. It distrusts government. Laws are aspirations; facts are forcibly argued opinions.
Above all America stresses success – winning is everything, not how you play the game. Meritocracy turns life into an endless competition. It awards the “best and the brightest” – no matter how they become the best and the brightest - and everyone else? Well, if you fail it is your own fault.
The oligarchs who run America and their sycophant politicians know this. Trump and Zuckerberg know this. Playing fair is for suckers.
The problem: too much freedom and too many myths.
All of Zuckerberg's actions seem to benefit Trump.
He turned a blind eye to the Russians hacking the election to help Trump, he allowed Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal data of millions of people's to be used by right-wingers for political purposes his mentor is Trump supporter, Peter Thiel.
And now by allowing politicians to run commercials full of lies he is clearly trying to help the worst pathological liar who has probably ever been in politics.
#1 Get off Facebook. It takes a month and will seriously improve your life.
Is Zuckerberg loyal to the USA? Does he owe his success to a foreign power?
Why haven’t the many people who agree with this simply gotten off Facebook. I did so after the 2016 election, and my life become measurably better. You truly don’t need it. Please join me!
Truth. History will not be kind..
I'm reminded of a guy I know, married into the family, that comes from venture capital stock. He worked in Silicon Valley for a time and now is retired in Hawaii, won't get on the internet because he said it's just a big surveillance camera for a variety of police agencies. I asked him about some of the dot.com founders he knew back when. "They all have one thing in common. None have any moral core at all. None. The "customer" is simply a member of the easily manipulated masses useful to gain riches." It's anecdotal but somewhat credible I believe.
And while Friedman is right to go after these monstrous tyrannical figures now running things, the people have to bear some of the responsibility in getting their heads out of their you-know-whats and go up some new learning curves about how to "hold on to a Republic," as Franklin charged them with after the Constitutional Convention. Democracy is a fight every generation between the experiment of self-rule and the easy, lazy, complacent, "let them do it all," attitude of the body politic who wait like baby birds in the nest for the public and private sectors to drip little worms into their hungry mouths.
dear Thomas Friedman and all other liberal democrats.
If all the politicians and business leaders in this country can't step in and see that this is a crisis, see that even on a pure money level, bad government and an incoherent society is NOT good for business, not to mention at higher levels for morals or ethics, then really this coming disaster is their fault for not doing anything about this.
And if the centrists and the progressives once again split and won't vote for each other to come together against a fascist, then it's THEIR fault for not getting their act together.
At some point those of us who have been marching, voting, writing, calling, urging people, driving people to the polls, going to DC with signs, etc etc etc, just can't do anything more.
I'm tired. And I'm sick of young GenZ people blaming my generation too. My friends and I have been reading, writing, complaining, protesting, teaching, and voting as liberal leftists for 40 years and honestly we can't do more. I'm kind of sick of it all.
It hurts to see the Yankees be so naive. I explain, Mr. Friedman, that if the USSR was dissolved, instead it defeated American democracy in the entire cultural line. Do you ignore that all of Latin America was flooded during decades of Marxist propaganda that served as a textbook in all the government universities in the region? Take a look at Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Dominican, Colombia, Argentina, El Salvador, Uruguay: everywhere the United States is the enemy to defeat. How do you seem to not understand it? What Trump did in Ukraine, Mr. Friedman, is certainly a mistake. I don't know how serious, but it's just a minute compared to what the Putin, Xi and Kim, the messiahs of Latin American neo-communists indoctrinated in our universities, do in a radical hatred against their great nation. They built an adulterated narrative in which the blame for all the evils of the world rests with the U.S. and in which the chapters of the horrific abuses of the enemies of the United States were deliberately suppressed.
Mr. Friedman, Please, go after the biggest perverted propaganda machine around today, Fox "News". Facebook's influence is a rounding error compared to Fox's. Go after Hannity, Fox and Friends, etc. Compared to these highly influential cynical creeps Mark Zuckerberg's influence is zero.
It's probably a rhetorical question but why doesn't congress hold hearings on Fox, Murdoch, Hannity, et al, and their knowing efforts at spreading falsehoods and spewing innuendo as a corporate practice?
Follow the money.
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@Paul S. Koskinen Well said, Paul Thank you!
Inexplicably,Murdoch & Sons and their diabolical employees are getting a pass. They should all be hauled before Congress. Murdoch's U.S. citizenship should be revoked. He is an enemy of this republic.
When are people going to start labelling these people and institutions as un-American?!?!
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The world is envious of us because of our lack of corruption, rule of law, civility and fairness are blatant self-serving lies which we are experts at, being the experts in Advertising (purchased license to lie), self-promotion and subtle lying and withholding truths (Madison Avenue).
Yet we go to incinerate people with Napalm in their homes, poison them with Agent Orange and their farms and food, shoot them singly, or at high speed with bullets, or comfortable (carpet to carpet) bombs. 58,000 of our soldiers died doing this. What we rarely have told Americans is that 2 million Vietnamese were killed in their own country. I am still asking why.
The lobbyist industry (read $500 wine bottles), the revolving door, Citizens United, regime change crowd, Carried Interest, Inside congressional trading, take your pick of our incorruptibility. Think of the massive military, political, legal, commercial lying to put the best face on our malfeasance.
These are some of the wages of imperialism, exceptionalism, capitalism, hegemony, exaggerated John Wayne, white supremacist, freedom, liberty ideas.
The world likes us for our money (read opportunity), our faster bullets (read military) and should hate us for our processed food, sugared water, one gun for every American man, woman and child. No whitewashing.
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Very well said, Mr. Friedman. I would add that the White House does not have a press secretary. She is the Propaganda Secretary and she, like her predecessor, are so good at performing their roles that even a pro like the North Korean propaganda department would blush at seeing their performances.
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Gautam Mukunda perhaps unintentionally misspoke?
The government didn't "rush in and save everyone." It saved the banks and the 1 percent. Republicans, currently pushing us over the brink again with unprecedented trillion dollar deficits, made sure that President Obama couldn't improve on the Bush bailout. Once the banks got what they wanted––and actually partied and awarded themselves bailouts on the taxpayers' money––Republicans demanded that any further rescues be "revenue neutral"! These hypocrites scream at the lack of bipartisanship but the sorry fact is that having left the nation mired in two hot wars––they refused to meet with President Obama. A looming depression and they went for "destroy his presidency."
The chief beneficiaries of that vampire capitalism were folks like Mnuchin, who helped engineer the crash, and Trump, who was positioned to steal real estate at artificially crashed prices. It was a heist. Millennials lost their jobs, saw college costs shoot through the roof, and going home to Mom & Pop wasn't always an option because they too had lost jobs, homes and cars. In that crisis, as in Germany in the 1930s, the Kochs, Murdochs, et al, saw ample opportunity to divide and conquer Americans with their "Astroturf" Tea Party machinations and FOX lies. And with the help of the Russians & Facebook, the crooks are now in charge, fattening at the public trough, trampling our Constitution, and agitating the uninformed toward fascism.
We're in trouble.
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Zuckerburg is a dangerous man with his high school diploma and lots of money.
One day he may read a book of and on the human experience and understand it.
As for Trump. Why has Fordham UPENN not been blamed at all for their educated graduate. How much did he really or the family really pay for those “degrees”.
The source of matter.
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lf Congress can ever again be wrested from the crooks, liars and thieves of the Republican Party, top priority must be given to amending Section 230 of the Communications Act, which allows scoundrels like Zuckerberg to profit by re-publishing slanders, libels and defamation of character with impunity.
Any newspaper republishing known falsehoods like Facebook et al are allowed to do would be subject to civil and perhaps criminal actions. Zuck is exempt. THAT needs to change.
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Did 1914 feel like this? I was born January 1939. Who could explain the First World War? I lived the second as a child. That’s all my parents talked about. The bomb. Then Korea. Then Vietnam. My first client asked: I offered: 500,000 troops, 10 years, 50,000 lost, we lose, the nation changes forever. Now we have endless wars. The Thucydides Trap? The military industrial complex? Of course.
1914? It is worse. Dictators all over. Nuclear. 60 million refugees, 20,000,000 of them children, warming, rising water displacing 50% of mankind, rampant racism with invading refugees, unspeakable poverty, unspeakable wealth, ISIS, Taliban, a pathological liar in the White House, the GOP threatening to destroy itself, our budget blown to bits.
A suggestion: On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder of Yale. In twenty small chapters... Professor Snyder covers all of it...
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Stop. Using. Facebook. Just stop. It is a pox on humanity.
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A lot of outrage all of a sudden from someone who wrote a couple of weeks ago Iraq was a fledging democracy that deserver our support. Now reports of 250 civilians killed by the Iraqi army for protesting government corruption.
Friedman was trying his hardest to make us forget he beat the war drums for our incvasion of Iraq and hoping we forget the terrible consequences.
Facebook gets paid for ads that are true or false. CNN, Fox, MSNBC and ever other TV network shows ads that are lies as do newspapers, magazines, radio and bill boards.
Is Facebook that much more important? Not to my way of thinking.
So now Friedman is all for impeachment and castigating Republican enablers. Where was he two years ago?
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Yep, that about sums it up, Thomas. We are seeing, in the last four years, the worst America has to offer, and it's certainly not pretty. Grift, graft, and grovelling at the feet of the Ugly American President has shown the world what we look like when our ideals are turned upside down. Impeachment aside, the only thing we can do about it is to vote on November 3, 2020. We are better than this, but only if we take the time to put into office people who won't emulate what we're now seeing. I hope you will join with me to start rebuilding an America we can once again be proud of.
You'll miss the first amendment. Ask the hong Kong protesters.
I notice you didn’t mention an administration (Obama) investigating a political opponent. I notice you didn’t mention an administration (Obama) doing nothing about foreign interference.
From the Northern perspective, I think it is time to build that wall. On the 48th parallel. America is going off the rails and it is going to get ugly.
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All “ great “ civilizations decline. Much of the reason is thinking themselves great, ignoring and failing to improve on their flaws. Unfortunately, having a sociopath like Trump and a narcissist like Zuckerberg just added fuel to the underlying fire already started. I hope we can survive this. If not, the winners are the rich and powerful ( as well as foreign demagogues knowing how to play people like Trump and Zuckerberg ). The losers are the average Americans and the poor as well as Democracy itself.
You are right that Fox is a huge factor in the dissemination, propagation, and misrepresentation of misinformation. It’s right wing HQ, the Republican news service, and conspiracy central all in one. It’s done more harm to America in the past 20 years than any single entity or person. It has enabled every single conservative extremist by giving them a platform to reach its brainwashed viewers.
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I wonder what would happen if Zuckerberg's neighbors in Crescent Park (in Palo Alto) ever really got 'up in arms' about what he's (not) doing.
Well, yes, it’s a predicament for all of the good people who serve the public with honesty and integrity, brought on by all those who don’t, and don’t think for a minute the common man doesn’t notice. Forget Facebook, your own pen can fix the mess, as soon as you call a spade a spade and not the Queen of Hearts!
Thank you for this column, Mr. Friedman. Zuckerberg is a greedy liar who bows, scrapes, and shills for whoever pays him enough. FB is the Pravda of the Republican party. Elizabeth Warren is right--break up these tech giants and make them serve our democracy instead of shredding it.
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Mr Friedman,
Thank you for making this clear..
Zuckerberg is an anti-social psychopath who wants to make money through any means and he belongs in same category as Trump. They're hurting America and all of democratic countries in favor of absolute power.
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The internet is an "embarrassment of riches".
Facebook can censor their ad content, but that is just the tip of the iceberg . . .
If someone wants to believe that Joe and Hunter Biden are corrupt they can simply go to Breitbart, Newsmax, FoxNews, Infowars and plenty of other sites. If they have a counter view there are plenty of places to get that perspective.
My father-in-law was the CEO of a prestigious engineering firm and even he fell into the "Obama was born in Kenya" trap. He is in his 90's and just assumed that the news was no different than it was in the days of Walter Cronkite and Edward Murrow.
These truly are scary times when "the truth is simply a lie that hasn't been found out".
One party has trafficked in lies and distortions for quite a long time. Remember the Willie Horton ad? The Swift-boating of John Kerry? The lies about John McCain?
Facebook makes this sort of lying easier and, by its penetration into people’s personal lives, more insidious.
The Trump administration should be called The Little Shop of Horrors; Facebook renamed, propaganda echo-chamber; and Fox news renamed, GOP TV or Trump TV.
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Fox is worse than Zuck, and has been for a lot longer.
Tom Friedman, like Danny Hakim last night and today, like Rachel Maddow every night, you are expressing sanity in the fact of insanity. You have lived in Lebanon. You know how bad it can get.
And you see, tonight, where we are headed. It is frightening. I am terrified, and I am 80.
Tom, I spent 6.5 years at The Orthogenic School of The University of Chicago. From 10 to 16, I lived among those rendered crazy. Bruno Bettelheim ran The School. I learned what abnormal psychology is about. I survived.
The (anti)social social media is dangerous stuff. We are trapped with our first amendment. Free speech is essential. But the insanity of our internet lying and the weirdness of today’s White House... are frightening.
You have opened the dialogue.
Kindly take it where we need to go.
Thank you very much... once again.
So the headline reads; "Trump, Zuckerberg & Pals Are Breaking America." Let me see if I get this.
A presidential candidate talked about what he can do in the Middle of Fifth Avenue and said he would still go untouched, and no bells went off?
What we are seeing today shouldn't surprise anyone. It's like some of the folks who voted for Brexit now saying they don't want to go ahead with it.
It's confusing to me because I can't understand what anyone thought the game was going to be.
If someone tells you laws don't apply to them, would you be in a hurry to say; "Okay, here's my address and contact number. Oh, by the way, did I give you my passwords?"
As the guys on ESPN used to say; "C'mon Man!!!!"
the old style media has made is own bed by not telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. So many Americans will view this opinion page as a distortion of reality that they will more an more turn away from NYT etc.
One could conclude that Mr Trumps popularity is due to his Tweeting of his positions so that the NYT etc can not interpret and distort his thoughts and actions . old time media has done it to itself. many of us thought Walter Cronkite was a saint and truth teller when he boldly claimed "And thats the way it is" each evening. in actuality it was how he interperted the news and his reporting on Viet Nam was untruthful because the american press wanted to essentially wanted to govern the country rather than report the news honestly
Thus it began and kept eroding until the opinion writer today actually believes what he wrote, and the editors think its true
Old time media should look in the mirror and then look at Zuckeman. Is he perfect? No, but he is staying away from interpreting events and thoughts of people which many in congress and the old time media has killed itself by doing so.
Please don't pretend that old time media doesn't understand this...and why it is becoming less and less influential
Duke M duFrane
Culpeper,Virginia
I don't get it. If you think Facebook is a news source, you're using it wrong. You see stuff on Facebook, OK. Then you check it out. If you can not discern fact from fiction from questionable, you're the problem.
Freidman is correct here. What he misses are the crimes of Congress and the Federal Election Commission for the past 3o years. Remember "equal time" where TV and Radio provided equal time on issues to opposing sides answering each other? Remember when ALL money to candidates was traceable? Recall when people at Fox did not violate federal and state election rules? Remember when Fox News Big Shot Roger Ailes chased down the publisher and editors of the first political news site on the Internet - "American Politics Journal" - I am that publisher since 1988 and when I notified the FEC that Fox News under Ailes, the rapist. and mobster-like so-called genius, was giving the GOP what amounted to full time and Billions of Dollars in free advertising by having them on that fraud of a New Channel which became producer and director of GOP TV ad campaigns? Ailes, and men that worked for him, now at the White House hired private detectives to dig up dirt on me and our writers - to destroy us and nothing else. Ailes failed to find that dirt but did make certain that American Politics lost what was, in the early 90s a 10 million reader web site, and then put up fox sites filled with lies to cram down the throats of Americans who had no time, education, or clear thought about the importance of Democracy? Then Ailes made certain the Federal Election Commission would give "news" outlets the right to say anything. CNN & MSNB followed, sadly. Trump hires Fox people today!
I'm so very sorry to say that from the outside, you're wrong. These horrors aren't breaking the U.S. They have broken it. What will rise from the dust remains to be seen but the world can no longer look for guidance or protection from a country whose people worship a liar, a cheat, a vulgar bully and one who turns on his country's allies and friends. No. It's too late. You're already broken. You only have to acknowledge it.
So how do we get to the bottom of the problem? How can we make Trump's Fox News devouring base realize that they are aiding and abetting the destruction of the country? That they are the traitors they accuse everyone else of being? Because if his base melted away no one would defend his indefensible actions again.
Thomas Friedman is so right here, and disturbingly we have millions of people who can't see through a grotesque con man like Trump or are so bigoted that they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge his countless mental defects and offenses against our democracy. We have morally bankrupt political hacks like Graham who, as Friedman says, hypocritically went after President Clinton for lying about a sexual dalliance (horrors! will the republic ever recover from that?) and now fail to challenge a much more serious threat from a sociopathic president who is corrupt and clumsily destroying our democratic institutions and values every day he remains in office.
And we have amoral folks like Zuckerberg who want to exploit their internet platforms without the least commitment to policing its content to exclude blatantly false, defamatory and corrosive messaging by the likes of Trump, Russian operatives and the rest of the disinformation gang. I don't worry all these no-character players will "live in infamy," because they clearly don't care about their legacy or their country. They care only for themselves, their political and financial benefits, in the short term or however long they can capitalize on their corrupt practices in the morality-free environment that is the Trump era.
If you only started being afraid with Trump, you haven’t been paying very close attention. Trump has simply torn the cheap veneer of civility off our deeply sick nation.
It kinda comes down to this: Money doesn’t equal morality. We have deluded ourselves for decades, but as we finish destroying the earth, turns out we’re also destroying our way of life.
Facebook enables millions of posts every day. They try to eliminate fraud and other unacceptable input, but it's just too much. When it comes to political posts, with honesty sharing space with half-truths, smears, distortions and all that goes with politics, do you really expect Zuckerberg to be the arbiter? I thought that was your job, Mr. Friedman.
Thomas Friedman is so right here, and disturbingly we have millions of people who can't see through a grotesque con man like Trump or are so bigoted that they stubbornly refuse to acknowledge his countless mental defects and offenses against our democracy. We have morally bankrupt political hacks like Graham who, as Friedman says, hypocritically went after President Clinton for lying about a sexual dalliance (horrors! will the republic ever recover from that?) and now fail to challenge a much more serious threat from a sociopathic president who is corrupt and clumsily destroying our democratic institutions and values every day he remains in office.
And we have amoral folks like Zuckerberg who want to exploit their internet platforms without the least commitment to policing its content to exclude blatantly false, defamatory and corrosive messaging by the likes of Trump, Russian operatives and the rest of the disinformation gang. I don't worry all these players with zero character will "live in infamy," because they clearly don't care about their legacy or their country. They care only for themselves, their political and financial benefits, in the short term or however long they can capitalize on their corrupt practices in the morality-free environment that is the Trump era.
This is absurd.
How do you think anyone could check millions of statements made by people on facebook every day? That is impossible!
One would be near insane if they thought they could believe anything on Facebook. Facebook is not a news outlet. Who on earth would think it is? On can hardly believe the "real" main stream media -- certainly not Facebook. What an absurd assumption by you that every statement on facebook needs editing and checking.
I'd prefer you did that on everything said on CNN! That's where it needs to be done. I heard Chris Cuomo from CNN recently state that he did not like the socialism discussed by the dem candidates! A wealthy/elite man, ignorant of the word "socialism" and haven't a clue as to its meaning or history or social need. And what an absurd question asked by A.O.C. and I like her and support her! Facebook is dangerous if people think there is any truth to be gained in it.
Focu on the main stream media and prevent them from being the Manufacturers of Consent. That is the propaganda mouth of the federal government. I see more CIA people on CNN than I can count. Let's get real and demand the Main Stream Media start telling us the truth the just not repeating government talking point!
Trump and his minions including the entire Republican Party, Fox News, and Facebook will not only live in infamy but they will destroy democracy with their lack of civility, respect for political opponents and governmental institutions, and their disdain for the truth and civic responsibilities. They are horrific and the fact that Americans still support their corruption augurs poorly for our future and our ability to handle crises like climate change, social and income inequalities, and healthcare with intelligence and honesty.
Yes, Trump and Zuckerberg (not to mention their "pals") are amoral, narcissistic, Richie Rich twits, both of whom managed to cleverly make hay with their privileged beginnings and only one of whom is otherwise intellectually capable. That is, I'll bet Zuckerberg can spell.
But both T and Z are simply pustules indicating the presence of far deeper challenges to the health of our country and the world - things that might break us all.
As the 2020 election approaches, every American needs to think carefully about the bigger and deeper challenges and who might best address them. Ranting about Trump and Zuckerberg personally will only distract from that project.
Putin targeted
1 Voters who believe ghosts are real.
2 Voters who believe pro wrestling is real.
3 Voters who exhibit symptoms of dementia.
4 Finally they target voters who are republicans.
There are millions of these profiles in PA, Wisconsin, and Mich. Less than 100 keystrokes on a computer in St Petersburg can target them again with new lies in the 2020 election.
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There is also the corrosive influence of Fox News, which really is “state-run television” and should be referred to as such.
No wonder Mark Zuckerberg is smiling on his way to the inquisition on Capitol Hill. He know full well that AOC and his other critics are hypocrites who couldn't function unless they check their Facebook accounts several times a day.
Facebook monetizes interactions. Fine. But in reality it doesn't do much more than what I am doing right now. I am posting my thoughts for anybody to read.
But I am aware that a moderating board doesn't actually let others see what I wrote until it is approved. If NYT can do it on an open forum like this one, Facebook can do it as well.
Caution: On another forum -- a conservative one -- I am often simply wiped from view by the moderators. I don't use insults or abusive language, but I do tend to disagree with the normal opinion writers.
Tom, you have been the voice of conscience many times. You hit the jackpot here.
History will not judge the Republican Party well. Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell are having their legacies stained.
Over what? Getting in some more conservative Judges? Tax breaks for billionaires and corporations that don't need it?
And how have those tax breaks faired? Did ordinary lives improve? Were there significant capital investments? Or just stock buy backs and more money pushed off shore?
1
In full agreement, but 'they/oligarchs' are complicit globally. All this mess to distract from, and thwart the efforts of those who are trying to address the climate CRISIS...
1
I am no fan of Facebook. I am even less of a fan of Donald Trump. But I must disagree with the notion that Facebook should be fact-checking ads. There is something to be said about the marketplace of ideas and legitimate debate. I am comfortable with the NTY and other reputable news organizations fact-checking and calling out false ads. I do not want some anonymous Facebook staff employee deciding what is true and what is not, and what ad gets accepted or rejected. If someone wants to lie in a political ad, let them lose credibility and get called on it.
The only problem with referring to "the financial crisis" is you have to stipulate which one. The history of the US is one long series of Wall Street financial crises.
If its an ad clearly from a campaign that contains obvious falsehoods, we have tools to combat that. Libel laws are as applicable in our age of social media as they were in the grand old days of print. If its the Trump campaign, the Dems should sue them for libel. The ad will come down soon enough. More insidious are the ads from unclear foreign players that sound and look credible. For those, the only line of defence we have is the (un) educated American voter. The same voter that brought us Trump and the Republican Senate. The enemy, i am afraid, is us.
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The only think we have to fear is fear itself. I didn't come up with that, but so true. Trump is a problem, social media may have problems and create risks. But where is your ire to the owners of this system - the People. We deserve the way the system functions currently because the average voter is too lazy, disinterested, occupied with the normal pressures of life, jaded or have just given up to put to work in to make informed choices. No democratic system is perfect. It's as good as the politicians and bureaucrats who operate it.
Now coming to social media, FB is an easy target because of scale and reach. Since when does FB or any other social platform have a responsibility to verify the political ad claims? Do televisions or newspaper, or the print companies who print flyers have the same responsibility. FB has taken the responsibility to take some steps to point out when an add my contain false information. Ultimately the reader has to take responsibility as well.
An now to Trump. If you believe FB has a responsibility to remove false ads, then should the policy apply to every Trump tweet? In essence these are also political ads. Twitter should have a responsibility to fact check and remove. How about if I say something false about a particular candidate or policy to my network, should the platform fact check and remove it? I think you see where this is going. And when it comes around, it stops at Citizen!
The whole point of having a responsible government is to create a system where the main channels of communication are regulated enough so that the worst lies are never heard. No person has the time to fact check everything and they shouldn’t have to, that is why they pay taxes, so that someone else can guarantee that they have clean air, water, and information to support life. It is easy to create a system of reliable information, we did it here with the fairness doctrine until the democracy haters removed the law. That policy was put in place because our leaders recognized the Supreme importance of fair and balanced information to the survival of our democracy. The people who took it away recognized the same thing and that is why they removed it. No country can continue with a communications environment that is crippled and polluted with lies. Unless we fix this cancer we are all going down.
@Bobotheclown Yes and it was Rupert Murdoch that orchestrated the end of the fairness doctrine (who can forget Faux News, fair and balanced lie to celebrate their success at legalizing the spewing of poison on an unsuspecting publlic), in conjunction with cross ownership of media outlets eliminating "free speech in the competition of ideas" from most US markets.
The stability of the US and to a large degree all democratic nations around the world are now at high risk. Breaking the rule of law includes damaging the Fed and the underlying belief in the USD. It is clear that breaking trust in our financial system will be the demise of the USA as we currently know it. And this is closer than many might realize given that a large majority of our population is well aware of the political and financial abuses currently running amok throughout our society.
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Graham, Zuckerberg and Trump have succeeded: the United States no longer has a representative government, and millions of Trump supporters don't even understand this. If we ever recover from this dystopian nightmare we must try to insure that everyone is schooled enough to be able to distinguish truth from obvious lies.
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The fact remains, in his zeal to be elected to the Presidency(and stay that way) Bill Clinton turned the democratic party so far to the right that the original ideals and the party that once represented the working man in America, after that point, no longer existed and just became the party of "Lite" Republicans. It was HE and people like Larry Summers who initiated the process of dismantling the banking rules that FDR put in place to prevent 1929 from happening again and, because of it, it DID happen again in 2008. Clinton( with the support of Republicans) also implemented the telecommunications act which allowed unfettered mergers and acquisitions within corporate media in which in a country that once had 52 independent media organizations is now down to SIX who control over 90% of what Americans read, see or hear.
They now control the narrative.
When one takes into account that corporations now have unfettered access to politicians with unlimited amounts of money, any wonder why all this is happening?
"Trump, Zuckerberg & Pals" are just a forty year old created "symptom" of a system that has collapsed in which they are breaking America and they are doing it because the people in charge in Washington have allowed it to happen!
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As bad as the Republicans are at least they fight against democratic ideals out in the open. They are unashamedly on the side of the ultra rich and are working to destroy the middle class. But they have never done as much damage to America as the traitors inside the Democratic Party who used their privileged position as defenders of the working class to secretly stab the working class in the back. Bill Clinton did more to hurt America than all the New Deal hating Republicans could do in 40 years. They could never push through NAFTA or repeal Glass Steagall, but their friend Bill Clinton did, and the disasters that have afflicted the economy ever since can be laid directly on his door step. And since he was elected by a population that believed that he should not not have done either makes him a traitor to the people who voted for him. Next to Reagan, Clinton was the worst president in the last century and the pain that he caused was the underlying cause of the hatred of many people for Hillary who carries his name. The lessons of the depression have now been forgotten and the safe guards erected by FDR have been repealed by his own party. We are again unaware and unprepared for the next depression which is certainly not far away. Maybe democracy is never going to work here because we are just to big and too stupid to allow it to work? Maybe Trump is right and we need a dictator after all.
The problem is someone like Zuck having this much power.
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He won’t have much power once the government shuts Facebook down.
Easy solution. Repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The minute internet providers can be held financially responsible for defamation, they will change their 'all speech is good speech' mantra the very next minute. \
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I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Friedman.
Unfortunately, what is happening in the United States at the moment, the ways in which democratic institutions are being undermined, is happening in other western democracies, e.g. Hungary, Poland, Italy ... too. There are willing 'enablers' (Stephen Greenblatt in Tyrant - Shakespeare on Politics or Timothy Snyder in his book The Road to Unfreedom) everywhere, which is truly frightening.
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Great time to learn a little more about Facebook, the data collection and marketing company: Katie Harbath is their Global Politics and Government Outreach director.
Here's a bio: https://gsmcon.com/katie-harbath/ Her experience is in political digital strategy for Republicans, including the 'Rudy Giuliani for President' campaign.
And often appears as a speaker:
https://www.advocate.com/business/2016/2/19/why-facebook-executive-headlining-right-wing-conference
https://www.c-span.org/video/?446329-1/social-medias-role-democracy
Looks like FB is the right place for her!
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I don't particularly want to defend Facebook, but I have concerns about scapegoating it. The decision to allow lies in political ads was the wrong one, but easily understood, and with no attribution of greed or malice. I imagine it came from the difficulty of identifying what is a LIE, on the one hand and what is a POLITICAL ad on the other. Is a pro-choice ad from Planned Parenthood a political ad? How about one aimed at voter suppression? If the truth standard only applies to announced political candidates, there are easy workarounds for that. And deciding where the line goes on the continuum where lie damn lies, lies, half truths, and complex arguments? Who's going to do that? I doubt the people who made the widely condemned decision at Facebook were trying to subvert democracy or even to eke out the last possible ad dollar; they merely sought the easy way out -- to avoid becoming the arbiter of the TRUTH with the inevitable result of making themselves everyone's target. But for US to make THEM the villain - that's us taking the easy way out.
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Interesting.
Why did I drop facebook? Because they were beyond sneaky with MY DATA not because of any ads. I also dropped them because they designed their settings area to require a degree in psychology in order to understand how to set up an account! Worst of all I dropped them because they were deliberately shifty-eyed and misleading when asked of their goals. Three strikes and you’re out!
@Peter In this world, you will be attacked whether you do the right or wrong thing.
Facebook should make a serious effort to do the right thing and develop procedures that will spot and root out lies.
Does "move fast and break things" include breaking countries?
It is easy to solve this problem because we have solved it before. The fairness doctrine forced all broadcasters to allow the opposing opinion viewpoint to be aired... for free. If Zuck had to give the other side free ad space for every political ad he runs FB would be over loaded with ads and his sugar daddies would not get what they paid for and would go somewhere else. And that was the point of the doctrine: enforced balance of political opinion. The practical effect was that news became a clear channel of objective journalism and was a model for the rest of the world. This doctrine can be brought back with a stroke of the pen and all this would be cured.
I consider Tom Friedman a valuable voice, but his attack in this editorial on Zuckerberg's defense of freedom of speech is overly simplistic.
I am all in favor of fact checking, but only if we are honest about the extent to which fact checkers themselves are often less than honest and, thus, only if we are honest about the great threat to important freedoms of speech censorship by "fact checkers" -- of the type A.O.C. seemed to be advocating -- can have. Politicians on both the left and the right lie frequently. (Of course, few even come close to lying as much as Trump and his craven supporters.) The very statement "all men are created equal", as it is commonly interpreted in our politically correct age, is a lie. How many Democrats think Donald Trump is equal with Barack Obama. I certainly don't.
The best form of fact checking is not to use it to censor speech, but rather to comment speech. The best form of fact checking keeps a permanent record of all fact checking and its sources so readers can determine the reputation for honesty they consider a given fact checker to have.
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No. Fact checking is ridiculous in a blizzard of lies. The only thing that can work is enforced balance. Every political ad is clearly identifiable by content sponsor. Simply enforce a fairness rule that mandates the platform run an opposing ad for free. Suddenly fact checking becomes unimportant as these ads cancel each other out. The people will have heard all sides of each opinion and can make a decision for themselves. We know this works because we have already done it and have proved it works. So why not do it again?
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I live down the hill from one of Zuckerberg’s numerous residential fortresses, replete with tinted-windowed SUVs guarding the street. Will his billions protect him and his family after his company helps to bring down the country that made his fortune possible? Does he care about the world that will be left for his own children? The greed and short-sightedness of corporate America is as boundless as it is astonishing.
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In the end the pitchforks and torches will get them all but money creates a sense of unreality in the mind of anyone who is truly rich. They cannot imagine they are bad or that the world can turn against them. But the world never stops turning. They are hoping they can survive and postpone the end until they are gone. Some have been successful at this and sime have not.
There is no majority that supports or believes tRump or his defenders. Most recent polls have confirmed that he is unpopular and should be impeached. I still have hope for our government to be righted & that impeachment will serve as a cautionary tale.
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Looks like we're finding we can't keep a republic...instead it's a game waged by two factions that care not about limited government, liberty, equal protection. No, they both want ever more government spending, more government programs, more taxes, more "free" handouts to win votes, never-ending meddling in foreign affairs, and deficits just don't matter since they can spend the future's money without fallout.
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The establishment has always been there and both sides must kowtow to it but both sides do not offer the same vision to the people. One side has consistently elevated people who are revolutionaries for the people’s government and the other has consistently elevated people who want to re establish a kingdom of the rich and do away with democracy. That is the same old story that has been fighting it out in our elections. And some people watch it all and think that the sides are the same.
I am big fan of Tom F, but this may be worst column you’ve ever written. I appreciate the rage, agree with much of diagnosis, and believe the republic is in a pernicious position for the reasons you cite.
But you are amplifying the very issues you cite as problems by associating Zuckerberg with Trump and assassinating his character. I agree with Zuckerberg that social media companies are in a poor position to regulate speech. Do I believe that “for the money”? Am I a racist? Am I a liar? Am I a right wing nut? Maybe I (and maybe Zuckerberg) have different view on how to address misinformation. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he’s wrong. But just saying he holds that position because he only cares about money is the exact problem with political discourse in this country.
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Facebook averages $110 million per day, they can afford fact checkers and should be regulated like any other media company.
No, he holds that position because he is a selfless patriot who has spent his life trying to make the lives of everyone a little better.
Please.