Barack Obama delivered an offensive speech against social networks on April 21, 2022 at Stanford University (California). JESSICA CHRISTIAN / AP
They were the focus of his presidential campaigns, but he is now calling for their regulation: Former US President Barack Obama spoke for almost an hour on Thursday, April 21 at the prestigious California university in the heart of Silicon Valley. He accused the major social media platforms of hugely amplifying “humanity’s worst instincts”. One of the main causes of the weakening of democracies lies in the profound change in the way we communicate and inform ourselves.”
The Democratic leader admitted that if it weren’t for sites like MySpace or Facebook, he “may not have gotten elected.”
For Barack Obama, the economic model of Facebook and YouTube – large-scale targeted advertising – is based on the attention economy. “Unfortunately, this is content that is inflammatory, polarizing, attracts attention and encourages participation” from users.
“This has to be our alarm bell to react”
The ex-president (2009-2017) also addressed the phenomenon of disinformation and accused himself of not sufficiently recognizing “how receptive we had become to lies and conspiracy theories” before his successor Donald Trump was elected.
“We just saw an incumbent president deny clear election results and help incite a violent insurrection against the nation’s capital,” he said, referring to the 45th of 2020 and firing at his supporters before the storming of the Capitol on March 6 January 2021, in which several people lost their lives.
Barack Obama therefore called for the laws governing social networks to be reformed to make them more accountable and transparent, stating that at the heart of misinformation, the problem is not so much “what people are posting” as “the content these platforms are posting support financially”. .
Proof that they are not “neutral” and that the algorithms need to be subject to a security review by a regulator, like cars, groceries and other consumer goods. Before he concludes in front of the Stanford students: “The tools don’t control us. We can control them. »