ጎይታይ Barack Obama: "Tegaru are dying because of misinformation"
Posted: 21 Apr 2022, 21:06
አውነ አረጋዊ ፀሓይ ልጎይታና ኦባማ ኡውነት አናጊሩ አው ሓዲድ አሃሪሱዎም 
Barack Obama: “There are people dying because of misinformation”
“There are people dying from misinformation”; This is how blunt the former president of the United States, Barack Obama (2009-2017), was shown this Thursday during a conference at Stanford University.
In the heart of Silicon Valley, the heart of the technology industry, the former president called for updating and reinforcing the regulation of social platforms, which, in his opinion, are weakening democracies by leaps and bounds by facilitating the proliferation of conspiracy theories, speeches of hate and extremist messages.
“These companies are no longer the typical telephone operator of yesteryear, they have changed a lot in the last 20 years,” Obama said, referring to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Disinformation has become the ex-president’s favorite cause, embarking on a campaign with which he is trying to use his influence so that Washington updates its laws and companies address the issue internally.
Earlier, in another appearance at the University of Chicago, the politician was “concerned” about the erosion of democratic and civil values on the internet.
In his long speech before the Stanford Cyber Security Center, Obama implored the well-known Section 230 to be reformed, a legal resource that protects technology companies from having legal responsibility for the content that is published in them.
Thus, Obama painted a scenario in which false news about coronavirus vaccines have caused the death of people or, in countries like Russia, have created societies in which the population “does not know how to distinguish what is real and what is not” .
“We are seeing the effects,” Obama said about a problem that he considers “going to get worse” and become “more sophisticated.”
However, the former president, who maintains contact with businessmen such as Mark Zuckerberg, added that large technology companies “are making a sincere effort” and show “genuine” concern about the problem.
“Social networks have not created racism, or extremism, or division,” he stressed.
But, at the same time, he did not hesitate to point out that “the new information ecosystem is driving some of the worst impulses of humanity.”
According to Obama, the human brain “is not used to receiving so much information” and he himself admitted “experience overload”, a context that countries like China, Brazil, Russia and the Philippines take advantage of against those groups that “don’t like” those in power.
Even so, Obama valued the thrust of the platforms to connect citizens and facilitate access to sources of knowledge with a single “click”: “I would not have been elected president if it were not for Facebook, MySpace or MeetUp,” he admitted.
Therefore, he asked the students of the university to assume their responsibility so that the positive wins the negative in the future of technology.
“The Internet is a tool, and the tools do not control us, we control them,” he settled.
Barack Obama: “There are people dying because of misinformation”
“There are people dying from misinformation”; This is how blunt the former president of the United States, Barack Obama (2009-2017), was shown this Thursday during a conference at Stanford University.
In the heart of Silicon Valley, the heart of the technology industry, the former president called for updating and reinforcing the regulation of social platforms, which, in his opinion, are weakening democracies by leaps and bounds by facilitating the proliferation of conspiracy theories, speeches of hate and extremist messages.
“These companies are no longer the typical telephone operator of yesteryear, they have changed a lot in the last 20 years,” Obama said, referring to platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Disinformation has become the ex-president’s favorite cause, embarking on a campaign with which he is trying to use his influence so that Washington updates its laws and companies address the issue internally.
Earlier, in another appearance at the University of Chicago, the politician was “concerned” about the erosion of democratic and civil values on the internet.
In his long speech before the Stanford Cyber Security Center, Obama implored the well-known Section 230 to be reformed, a legal resource that protects technology companies from having legal responsibility for the content that is published in them.
Thus, Obama painted a scenario in which false news about coronavirus vaccines have caused the death of people or, in countries like Russia, have created societies in which the population “does not know how to distinguish what is real and what is not” .
“We are seeing the effects,” Obama said about a problem that he considers “going to get worse” and become “more sophisticated.”
However, the former president, who maintains contact with businessmen such as Mark Zuckerberg, added that large technology companies “are making a sincere effort” and show “genuine” concern about the problem.
“Social networks have not created racism, or extremism, or division,” he stressed.
But, at the same time, he did not hesitate to point out that “the new information ecosystem is driving some of the worst impulses of humanity.”
According to Obama, the human brain “is not used to receiving so much information” and he himself admitted “experience overload”, a context that countries like China, Brazil, Russia and the Philippines take advantage of against those groups that “don’t like” those in power.
Even so, Obama valued the thrust of the platforms to connect citizens and facilitate access to sources of knowledge with a single “click”: “I would not have been elected president if it were not for Facebook, MySpace or MeetUp,” he admitted.
Therefore, he asked the students of the university to assume their responsibility so that the positive wins the negative in the future of technology.
“The Internet is a tool, and the tools do not control us, we control them,” he settled.