Trump Internet Age

The internet has a Donald Trump problem of its own making. In general, it was delighted with the emergence of the conflict, sensationalism, increased activity and profit which accompanied Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Now we know that very little consideration was given to where the advertising revenue came from, where the increased traffic came from and the implications of a precedent being set by giving unrestricted access to a known fabulist, misogynist and bully.

In 2008, I attended a generally congenial meeting, orchestrated by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), held at Stamford University, with platforms and service providers including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Twitter. At that meeting there was one overriding message,  “Hate, racism, and incitement on the internet was a pervasive and growing problem”. The hate protagonists were active in many places and coordinating their efforts across platforms.

Subsequent meetings, two years later, were attended by over a dozen industry representatives. At these events, co-sponsored by ADL and an EU Inter-Parliamentary group, evidence was presented of on-platform and inter-platform activity used to support off-platform agendas of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and terrorist groups. The uniform response by the industry was that there was no evidence that online hate had any connection to real world violence.

ADL suggested a study to determine the extent of cyber hate and the vectors of transmission being exploited. This could settle the issue one way or the other. The major industry companies declined at that time. They had no interest in opening that particular pandora’s box of knowledge. Once a study confirmed the online hate there would be no way to deny awareness of it or the need to consider responsibility.

For years, the portfolio of internet industry leaders maintained they were only responsible for activity on their own platform, that their terms of service adequately protected users, and their preeminent goal of allowing the broadest variety of speech was in the public interest. In response the ADL, and many other anti-hate, safety and public advocacy groups vocally called for explicit terms of service which would be rigorously and universally enforced.

By 2014, with the rising political polarization, social tensions and increasing hate online, the stage was set for the emergence of the Trump Internet Age (TIA). The first personalities paving the way for Trump’s online behavior were a collection of different racists, anti-Semites and segregationists. Their underlying motivations were unmistakable. Years of appeals to platforms regarding Terms of Service violations resulted in removal of the most egregious content. Much of the more subtle, manipulative, insidious dog whistle content continued unabated.

Political campaigns have long been considered a sacred place where free speech was given great latitude. Non-profit and publicly funded entities have long refrained from commenting on campaigns or endorsing candidates for fear of threatening their funding or not for profit certification. The internet companies, as self-designated “front pages” of public opinion, strove to make no judgement calls. We now know that this position by the platforms was manipulated to turn them into propaganda conduits. The companies were deeply entrenched in a philosophy that bad content and untruth would be eclipsed by the good. Bad actors quickly dominated every space on the internet they could.

The, August 2017 Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia irrefutably demonstrated how hate speech leads to violence and how inter-platform manipulation of the internet is used to support the real world agendas of hate groups. Many platforms quickly banned extremist users, websites and groups related to inciting, supporting, or celebrating the violence at Charlottesville. Significant changes in policies were also made in response to the violence and online exploitation linked to the riot. Unfortunately, this clearly points out that the industry was far behind in policies and enforcement despite warnings and repeated requests by experts on the issue.

The shift that started in in the aftermath of the 2016 election and Charlottesville violence and other mass attacks by extremists, has now caught up to political propaganda. Trump is extremely upset that the same latitude which allowed platforms to permit his misinformation, also impowers them to speak out against him and apply all their rules of behavior to him, if they so choose.

The internet industry must now confront the ecology they have created. When self-validating distortions by a small-time conspiracy theorist are treated as fact, it lays the groundwork for self-validating distortions by the President of the United States, or any member of government, to be treated as fact. The internet leaders are now at a junction where they must work together to create an industry policy and practice coalitions or face an imminent and inevitable effort by government to restrict and control the industry. Trump is their Frankenstein’s monster. They are Frankensteins and have created the possible means of their own possible demise.