Does Social Media Censorship Trigger Extremism? Speaking To The Black Musician Who Makes KKK Members Rethink Racism

Why are we so divided? Whether or not it’s the struggle in Ukraine or Covid or the 2020 U.S. election or Black Lives Matter or abortion, it seems like there have by no means been such nice divisions in society.

I not too long ago had a possibility to talk with Daryl Davis, a blues, jazz, rock, and swing musician who performed for Chuck Berry for 32 years. He’s additionally a black man who has satisfied 200 members of the KKK that racism simply doesn’t make sense. And Davis, who I spoke to together with various social community Minds.com CEO Invoice Ottman, has some concepts about what permits extremism to flourish.

“It’s when the conversation ceases that the ground becomes fertile for violence,” Davis says on the TechFirst podcast. “A missed opportunity for dialogue is a missed opportunity for conflict resolution … if you spend five minutes with your worst enemy, you’ll find something in common. And that chasm, that gap begins to narrow. Spend another five minutes, you find more in common and it closes in more.”

There’s a powerful notion amongst individuals who establish with the suitable facet of the political spectrum that the most important social platforms from massive tech firms censor or restrict their political speech. Former president Donald Trump launched a category motion lawsuit towards Fb, Twitter, and YouTube final yr, and tens of 1000’s of People submitted examples of what they thought of to be proof. Elon Musk has slammed Twitter’s alleged “strong left wing bias.”

Whether or not they’re proper or not, there’s little question that Fb and different social media giants are intervening an increasing number of within the content material they publish, whether or not gun possession second-Modification posts or details about the best way to entry abortion drugs in a put up Roe v. Wade world.

A Fb pal who doesn’t appear insane often shares situations of the place Fb deletes or hides her content material.

In lots of instances the explanations appear foolish or arbitrary, like an AI that doesn’t actually perceive the content material or get the joke. One reveals a floating tent, captioned “Floating tent sleeps 4 and offers a cool new way to die while camping.” Different deletions appear extra comprehensible, just like the thumb with a face on it and a string tied round in a form like a noose: it’s not explicitly about lynching, nevertheless it’s clearly desiring to evoke that imagery. Poor style, doubtless offensive, a nasty joke, however is it censor-worthy?

Fb additionally typically simply will get it improper:

“My account has been restricted,” one other pal not too long ago mentioned. “Someone posted how cockroaches were under the benches in HB and I wrote ‘Burn them all down.’ I meant the bugs, but okay Facebook. Lol.”

However whereas there’s the mistaken and the comical, there’s additionally the Covid deniers and the anti-vaxxers and the election conspiracy theorists. Deciding at which level to censor or not appears agonizingly onerous, if not not possible.

Elon Musk, whose deal to “save free speech” and hunt the bots on Twitter by shopping for the platform has fallen by way of because of — in response to Musk — the bots on Twitter, had a distinct customary. Because the authorized wrangling round that phrases of his extrication from his authorized obligations begins, it’s value contemplating that customary: the legislation.

That’s persuasive to a level, nevertheless it additionally has dangers. One of many causes Fb carried out Covid misinformation insurance policies is to save lots of lives. As we are able to see within the latest Highland Park taking pictures and January 6 violence, misinformation about political realities can even value lives. And that misinformation is created and unfold far sooner than any legislation might really be codified and enforced. So it’s comprehensible that social media networks have felt it essential to take motion.

However the query is: does social media censorship feed extremism?

In different phrases, by banning issues they contemplate false or harmful, do the massive social platforms really make the social drawback worse, maybe like a gated group creating an island of privilege in an ocean of poverty?

Invoice Ottman thinks so, regardless of the truth that he believes some illegal content material must be censored.

“What do you expect if you throw someone off a website, where do they go?” the Minds.com CEO asks. “Well, you just have to follow them and you see that they go to other smaller forums with less diversity of ideas, and their ideas get reinforced and they compound.”

That makes intuitive sense, after all.

Persons are inherently social, more often than not, and if they’ll’t converse their minds on Twitter or Fb or YouTube, they’ll discover Fact Social or Rumble or Gab or Gettr. Or a Telegram channel that may’t simply be censored, or any of dozens of right-wing or conservative retailers … or left wing, if that’s their persuasion.

The issue is that after they get there, they might simply arrive in an echo chamber of concepts that lead them down the rabbit gap of an increasing number of extremism.

“On Minds, we do have pretty strong diversity of thought,” Ottman says. “And so we are an alternative forum where people do go sometimes when they get banned. But I wouldn’t say their views are necessarily amplified when they come because we do have diversity of opinion.”

I imagine that’s the purpose, however I haven’t personally seen that on Minds, I’ve to say.

In trending tags round #humor, I see a meme about why Biden hasn’t been assassinated but: “In case you wondered why someone shot Shinzo Abe but not Sleepy Joe … Professionals have standards.” A advisable account has a meme about Trump Towers being the brand new Florida Guidestones providing ideas about the best way to depopulate authorities, taking part in on the latest Georgia Guidestones monument destruction. And in my temporary expertise on the location, something not pro-Trump is met with vital anger and invective.

However maybe that simply proves the purpose.

Retaining totally different, offensive, and even flat-out improper individuals on platforms like Fb and YouTube and Twitter may be a approach to make sure that they no less than often see a glimpse of other actuality bubbles, and supply us an opportunity to speak. Particularly if the algorithms that run social platforms are redesigned to not simply present us extra of what we like so we keep on the platform and earn extra advert income for its house owners but in addition present us totally different viewpoints.

Which runs the danger, after all, of constructing the platforms a dwelling hell for individuals who don’t need to be confronted by extremist, nasty, or simply ill-informed opinions on a regular basis. (Anybody else considerably lower their time on Fb pre and put up 2020 U.S. election?)

Davis thinks which may discomfort may be a worthwhile sacrifice … if we are able to modify our viewpoint on what offends us.

“I’m up the mindset that I cannot offend you. You can only allow yourself to be offended,” he says. “People say a lot of offensive things. And whether I want to be offended by it or not is up to me.”

Will allowing that offensiveness that we are able to attempt to not be offended by heal a few of the divisions in society?

It’d no less than assist cut back extremism, Davis thinks.

“I don’t think kicking people off of Twitter or Facebook, whatever, causes extremism. I think what it does is it causes them to perhaps follow a path that may lead to extremism. The extremism already exists, and they’re on different platforms and different areas. And, you know, when you get kicked off of something, you go somewhere else. And it’s quite possible that you might go in that direction to somewhere where it already exists, and it embraces you and welcomes you and amplifies you.”

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