LIVE FROM MWC25 BARCELONA: Rules governing content platforms should be built in a way which encourages providers to be more engaged with the process of tackling online disinformation, an expert in the sector argued.
During a keynote on conspiracy theories and distribution of harmful content online, Ross Frenett, founder and CEO of specialist technology developer Moonshot, said there is a need for sensible and well-targeted regulation.
“There is no question that these kinds of companies need to be regulated just like everyone else, you sometimes hear the argument that ‘if we did this then our business model isn’t viable’. Well then your business model isn’t viable,” he said.
“If you were making cars or making drugs and you said ‘well these safety tests make us go under’, then the answer would be go under”.
However, he backed workers at big tech companies to be “much more creative at solving these problems than the governments”, with regulations needed that are “smart and targeted to apply pressure to change the companies’ incentives to make sure that they are actually engaging with them in good faith”.
Power for good
Though noting the need for regulation, he acknowledged big social media platforms can also be harnessed for good.
While the platforms are used by bad actors to “pull people into their orbits”, he noted “we can do exactly the same thing” but instead use them for positive messages.
“We need to think of the ways in which these platforms work and how we can turn them to our advantage”.
One way he suggests of ensuring positive messages get through rather than the nefarious ones is to ensure “the populations are inoculated against this kind of information rather than trying to outrace the disinformation”.
Highlighting a need to focus on debunking false statements, he stated there is a need for authorities and technology companies to aid in this drive.
Potential ways suggested to get this message over was in education campaigns for “new digital arrivals” comprising anyone from “a 12-year-old getting their first smartphone” to a “60-year-old in sub-Saharan Africa, or someone in between”.