The NFX Podcast A Proposal to Jack & Zuck: Chris Anderson (ex-WIRED) & James Currier on Regulating Social Media
The usual Silicon Valley response to regulation is to offer self-regulation instead — but only tech companies have the skills and speed to fix what they broke, unable to manage the influence over the public sphere they attained almost by accident.
Unless the few who know how to actually build these tech networks speak out, it won’t just be technology that suffers - it will be the entire world. Having built, funded, and analyzed “unicorn” social networks for 25 years and former Editor-in-Chief of Wired magazine, Chris Anderson and NFX Partner James Currier formulate a solution that resurrects a concept from the golden age of newspapers - the ombudsman.
The ombudsman is another important node in the network that has proven itself in the past and is still missing. Listen as Chris and James outline together why these network problems require network solutions, here on the NFX Podcast.
(0:00) Introduction and the problem with regulating social media (7:41) The complexities of digital media interfaces and establishing a threshold for content (13:05) The role of likes and extreme content in social media platforms and potential regulation (18:27) The Chinese government's control over online content and American exceptionalism (25:00) Discussion on nationalization of large companies and the potential impact on Facebook (31:21) The argument against corporate social responsibility and examples of corporations focusing on it (35:09) The possibility of breaking up Facebook and its potential consequences (39:25) The regulatory challenges faced by rapidly growing companies like Robinhood and the transition from tearing down to building up in the tech industry (43:45) Addressing root algorithmic causes in tech companies and the potential for an ombudsman committee (46:56) Wrap-up and outro