The Social Compact, the Social Contract

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Facebook is now in charge of the public sphere, but it doesn't take over any of the institutions that help moderate the public sphere. When facebook became the world's largest distributor of news, its algorithms left behind the gate keeping functions,. The journaathic standards have been turned upside down by illiberal forces who want to control the information ecosystem. News journalists have to purpose. We distribute the news, and we are the gate keepers of facts. This is what we have agreed on. It takes a lot of experience to make these very, very calls. And whatever call you make, you responsible for them. What's than example of some of that discernment and moral weight there

[This episode originally aired on November 5, 2019] Maria Ressa is arguably one of the bravest journalists working in the Philippines today. As co-founder and CEO of the media site Rappler, she has withstood death threats, multiple arrests and a rising tide of populist fury that she first saw on Facebook, in the form of a strange and jarring personal attack. Through her story, she reveals, play by play, how an aspiring strongman can use social media to spread falsehoods, sow confusion, intimidate critics and subvert democratic institutions. Nonetheless, she argues Silicon Valley can reverse these trends, and fast. First, tech companies must "wake up," she says, to the threats they've unleashed throughout the Global South. Second, they must recognize that social media is intrinsically designed to favor the strongman over the lone dissident and the propagandist over the truth-teller, which is why it has become the central tool in every aspiring dictator's playbook.